Inter Milan sporting director Piero Ausilio has been quoted by Inter News as saying that Milan Skriniar won’t be heading to Tottenham Hotspur.
Spurs have been pursuing a deal for the Slovakian defender over the last week, and reports seemed very encouraging.
Sky Italia’s Gianluca Di Marzio showed photos of Tottenham’s recruitment chief Steve Hitchen in Italy for talks over a deal for Skriniar.
Inter allegedly wanted €60million (£55million) for Skriniar, whereas Tottenham were instead looking to pay around €50million (£46million) for him.
Skriniar was described as being interested in a move to the Premier League, and fans became excited that he could be heading to England.
Spurs need a centre back having lost Jan Vertonghen over the summer, and Skriniar would be a massive coup based on his displays in Italy.
The 25-year-old is already a top centre back and still has the potential to develop, but it seems that Tottenham will have an uphill battle if they want Skriniar signed up.
Ausilio confirmed that talks have been held with ‘the Tottenham director’ – presumably Hitchen – but having already allowed Diego Godin to leave, Inter now have no intention of offloading Skriniar, potentially leaving Tottenham to look elsewhere.
“I can confirm that there was a meeting with the Tottenham director, but we also reiterated to the Tottenham director that Skriniar is not on the transfer market,” said Ausilio. “We have already released Godin and we are not thinking of depriving ourselves of a player like Skriniar,” he added.
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