Inter Milan defender Milan Skriniar should stay and fight for his future at the San Siro despite being linked with Premier League champions Liverepool, Slovakia teammate and former Anfield hero Martin Skrtel has told Sport Aktuality.
While Stefan de Vrij secured Serie A’s Defender of the Year award and Alessandro Bastoni exploded onto the scene, another Inter centre-half endured his most difficult campaign at the Nerazzuri.
Skriniar, like Diego Godin, has struggled to adapt to life in Antonio Conte’s preferred three-man back line.
As a result, the former Sampdoria powerhouse has been stuck on the bench more often than he would have liked of late with Godin, Bastoni and De Vrij all moving ahead of him in the pecking order.
Gazzetta dello Sport claimed in June that Inter no longer see Skriniar as ‘unsellable’ with Liverpool showing an interest in making the £45 million-rated defender as Dejan Lovren’s replacement at Anfield.
According to Skrtel, Skriniar should instead remind everyone of that ‘never say die’ attitude that once made him the first name on Inter’s team-sheet.
“There are moments in life of every player where things go really well, but there are also moments where things don’t go as planned. When this happens it is important for a player to react. Skriniar is going through something similar to this at Inter,” Skrtel says, as translated by SempreMilan.
“In recent games he has lost his role as a starter and there is more and more talk about the fact that he could leave the club. (But) he is still young and he should remain strong and fight for his recovery.
“Although there is the interest of English and Spanish clubs, the best solution for him would be to stay at Inter, where he has built a great name for himself.
“I know Milan and I think he will fight for his place in the team and return in the new season. Milan must remain calm and work even more in training to convince Conte to put him in the line-up. Nobody doubts his qualities.”
Tottenham have also been linked with Skriniar but, as FC Inter News reported this week, the 25-year-old has little interest in swapping Inter for a Spurs side who missed out on Champions League qualification this season.
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