Yahoo Sports Tottenham and Aston Villa set to battle for PSG defender
Tottenham and Aston Villa are both considering January moves for Paris Saint-Germain defender Milan Skriniar.
The Slovakian centre-back is free to leave PSG this month and has been subject of a loan approach from Turkish champions Galatasaray. Spurs and Aston Villa are now ready to rival Galatasaray’ interest with both sides keen to strengthen depleted defences.
Milan Skriniar is hoping to resolve his future this week or early next.
Galatasaray remain in talks, but there is other interest.
Spurs one of the clubs considering a move on a short-term basis, as revealed on @LastWordOnSpurs.🇸🇰 pic.twitter.com/7O1ZAj8eXc
— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) January 8, 2025
Ange Postecoglou is without first-choice centre-back pairing Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, while Ben Davies and Destiny Udogie are also on the absentee list for Spurs. In recent weeks, the North Londoners have paired 18-year-old midfielder Archie Gray with Radu Dragusin in central defence. Skriniar would represent an experienced option to boost the club’s stocks, while the 29-year-old could be available on loan.
“We’ve been planning,” Spurs boss Postecoglou said when asked on January arrivals last month.
“A lot of it was going to be around where we’re at around this time. Fair to say we’re still a little bit short in a couple of areas and we need to reinforce. January’s trickier in terms of what sort of players you can bring in. For us, ideally – for any club, I guess – you want to bring in people who are going to make you stronger.
“I think the fact that, obviously, we’re still in the Carabao Cup semi-final, still got Europe, FA Cup, we’re in all the competitions, it’s not like our schedule’s going to ease up at any stage. So, I think it makes sense. We will try and reinforce. Where and what number we’ll have to wait and see.
“You don’t just want to panic and bring in anybody that you don’t think will help our cause in the back half of the year, but I think we’ve already shown we are pretty methodical and prudent about our work. We’ll make sure we’ll bring somebody in who is going to help us.”
Aston Villa are also contemplating a move for the defender, with Pau Torres sidelined for two months with a broken metatarsal.
Skriniar has long been linked with a move to the Premier League. He rose to prominence at Sampdoria before a successful six-season spell at Inter Milan. During his time at the San Siro, he won a Serie A title, two Coppa Italias, and formed part of the side that reached the 2023 Champions League final. Skriniar moved to PSG on a free transfer in 2023 and won the Ligue 1 title in his debut season. However, he has failed to nail down a regular role with the French champions.
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