Unlike their chase for a new striker, Tottenham appear to have a clear idea in mind when it comes to who they want to recruit at centre-back.
That man is Milan Škriniar, whose difficulties fitting in Antonio Conte’s three at the back formation have led him to drop down the pecking order at San Siro.
That’s why the Italian manager isn’t against seeing his Slovakian defender leave in the current window, knowing full well a hefty sale for his services could allow him to bring in more of his desired targets.
Gazzetta dello Sport have a long article dedicated to Inter’s transfer matters on Friday, with the big focus on Škriniar and his potential move to Spurs.
The player knows his place in Italy is at risk of seeing him sit on the bench more often than not, and he ‘hopes in his heart to set off definitively towards the Channel, where he would like to dress soon in the pure white of Tottenham’.
As was reported on Thursday, the confirmation of this strong interest from the London side came when their technical director, Steve Hitchen, met with the Serie A side’s CEO.
Described as an ‘official summit’, the gathering failed to produce a first offer, but Gazzetta believe ‘it’s only a matter of time’ before an official bid is made.
Škriniar is said to have a ‘precise round price’ of €50m and no counterparts, but Spurs are, for the time being, ‘thinking about lower figures’ of around €40m.
However, there’s optimism that ‘with patience (and perhaps with bonuses), the fateful figure can be approached’.
The belief is the two clubs ‘will have the opportunity to talk about it again on Monday in a new meeting’ and ‘on that occasion, the negotiations could really start with an offer’.
A lot of this is corroborated by Corriere dello Sport, who also report that Tottenham have not presented offers, but they know Daniel Levy’s first move won’t be enough.
The rest is just a repeat of what we already know, as they move onto other topics, such as Škriniar’s potential replacements, named as Chris Smalling, Nikola Milenković or even Schalke’s Ozan Kabak.
