Antonio Conte wants Tottenham Hotspur to sign Milan Skriniar at last, with the Inter defender potentially on his way to the Premier League as reported by Tuttomercatoweb.
It is no secret that Spurs tried – and ultimately failed – to sign the Slovakia international during Jose Mourinho’s time in North London.
According to Calciomercato, Tottenham lodged a £30 million bid for Skriniar during the summer of 2020.
Inter would not budge on their demands for £50 million, however, and after Daniel Levy eked every last penny out of the Nerazzuri during negotiations for Christian Eriksen a few months earlier, the Serie A champions were in no mood to be charitable.
With his former Inter boss Conte set to take over from Nuno Espirito Santo, Skriniar’s future is once again under the microscope.
The former Sampdoria stopper endured a difficult start to life under Conte at the San Siro – struggling initially to adapt to his 3-5-2 formation and spending much of the 2019/20 season stuck on the bench.
Skriniar made up for lost time in 2020/21, however, belatedly thriving in Conte’s trademark three-man backline. He even scored a crucial goal in a nerve-shredding victory over Napoli, as Inter cruised to their first Scudetto triumph since Mourinho’s salt-and-pepper heyday.
We can only imagine the expression on Mourinho’s face if Conte – one of his most impassioned adversaries – succeeds in snapping up a player Jose was desperate to sign during his final few months at Tottenham.
We assume it would look something like this:
The question is: Will Levy back Conte and stump up the £50 million Inter want?
It is probably safe to assume, given that Conte is expected to accept a job he walked away from just four months ago, the most demanding manager on the market has been given assurances over the transfer funds at his disposal.
“Conte has brought a winning mentality with him to the club, something which has been missing in recent years,” Skriniar said after the Italian was unveiled at the San Siro in 2019.
The hope, at Tottenham, is that Conte can have the same transformative impact in North London.
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