Jose Mourinho personally intervenes in Tottenham transfer saga ‘as player decides’
Tottenham Hotspur’s pursuit of Milan Skriniar has been stopped in its tracks by the intervention of none other than Jose Mourinho.
Turkish outlet BBO Sports posted on X (22 January) to report direct correspondence between Skriniar and Mourinho, after the PSG defender decided to join his Fenerbahce side over a move to Spurs [Fabrizio Romano].
Skriniar had been left out of PSG’s squad for Wednesday’s (22 January) Champions League tie with Manchester City, but has since flown to Istanbul after being convinced to link up with Mourinho’s club by the man himself.
In quotes reported by BBO Sports, Mourinho said: “I just told Milan Skriniar how big Fenerbahce is, how fair the league is in Turkey, I told him how beautiful a city Istanbul is.
“I have a small role. The main role is the club. Also the desire shown by the club and the financial club. The main role is our sporting director Mario Branco. He conducted all the negotiations.”
Jose Mourinho scuppers Milan Skriniar move to Tottenham
He may have left the club almost four years ago, but the spectre of Mourinho is still having an impact in North London as he prevents them sealing the deal on a potential move for Skriniar.
The 29-year-old would have been a welcome and much-needed addition to the Lilywhites’ centre-back stocks amid their injury crisis in defence, but Ange Postecoglou will now need to look elsewhere.
Reinforcing his central defence is seen as crucial for the Australian to stem the flow of goals his side have conceded in recent weeks, with Cristian Romero still on the sidelines and Micky van de Ven yet to return.
Skriniar, set to join Fenerbahce on loan with his wages split between the Turkish side and PSG [Romano, 22 January], was seen as a more gettable asset than the likes of Illya Zabarnyi, who Bournemouth will demand top-dollar for [GiveMeSport, 1 January].
However, Mourinho’s intervention leaves Spurs back at square one in their chase for a centre-back, and if one doesn’t arrive and form doesn’t improve, the writing could soon be on the wall for Postecoglou.
In other Tottenham news, a highly-rated Premier League youngster has made his transfer intention clear amid interest from Spurs.
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