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Premier League • England

Man Utd, Tottenham battle to sign Serie A ace ignites after Inter Milan line up Prem replacement

Inter Milan stars Milan Skriniar and Lautaro Martinez

Man Utd and Tottenham have received another boost in their efforts to sign an Inter Milan superstar after the Serie A side locked on to an Everton star as his replacement, per reports.

The biggest strength at Inter Milan in recent seasons has been their rock solid defence. A back three containing Stefan De Vrij, Milan Skriniar and Alessandro Bastoni has worked wonders for both Antonio Conte and Simone Inzaghi.

However, Inter remain up against the wall financially and may have to break up their back three in the coming windows.

Skriniar, 27, is the bedrock of the trio, though was heavily linked with PSG over the summer. Inter stood firm, but the centre-back’s contract status is giving them fits.

Skriniar will be out of contract next summer, something that’s opened up the possibility of a January sale for a fraction of his true value.

Tuttosport recently claimed Inter are becoming increasingly vulnerable to losing Skriniar in January.

A fee of between £17.6m (€20m) and £22m (€25m) will reportedly be enough to tempt Inter into selling. Had he more years left on his contract his real valuation would be around three times those amounts.

Inter will attempt one final time to tie Skriniar down to fresh terms, per Gianluca Di Marzio. However, for now at least, the writing appears to be on the wall.

Man Utd and Tottenham have both been linked in recent times. The Spurs connection is obvious given they’re managed by Conte who coached Skriniar at Inter.

United, meanwhile, have a long-standing interest in the player and a potential swap involving one of two Red Devils was touted in early October.

Now, more fuel has been added to the Skriniar exit fire by CalciomercatoWeb.

Inter search leads them to Goodison

The Italian outlet back up many of the other claims, such as Skriniar potentially being available in January for just €25m.

However, they also note Inter have begun sizing up potential replacements and have locked on to Everton’s Yerry Mina.

The 28-year-old remains Everton’s highest quality centre-half. The issue for Frank Lampard has been keeping him fit.

The Colombia international has played just once this season after picking up an ankle injury. Regardless, his undoubted talent and relatively cheap valuation have Inter enamoured.

Calcio state Mina could be available for just €10m (approx. £8.65m) in January given his own contract situation. Like Skriniar, Mina is out of contract in the summer of 2023.

Everton may also be willing to part ways given the centre-back simply cannot stay fit. Inter would like to ‘close a deal’ for €10m which would net them a healthy profit and a direct replacement if selling Skriniar in the same window.

Who needs Skriniar more?

If a transfer battle were waged between Spurs and Man Utd, the answer to that question is clear.

United already splashed out £50m+ to sign Lisandro Martinez over the summer. The Argentine has already struck up a promising early partnership with Raphael Varane.

An injury to the Frenchman has afforded Victor Lindelof an opportunity to remind everyone what he’s capable of in the last two matches. The Sweden captain recently claimed Erik ten Hag’s system perfectly suits his game.

Harry Maguire is also on the books and after a torrid spell, the only way is up. A period out of the firing line – also through injury – may do the under-fire Maguire some good in the long run.

In contrast, questions remain over several of Conte’s options in north London.

Cristian Romero and Eric Dier are the Italian’s two undroppables in his back three. However, Clement Lenglet has only been signed on loan and Davinson Sanchez will forever be prone to an error.

Ben Davies has done well deputising as a left centre-back. However, it’s unarguable an addition the calibre of Skriniar wouldn’t be an upgrade and in all likelihood, he’d walk straight into the eleven.

Conte also knows Skriniar well from their time at Inter. If the Slovakian were signed, expect him to hit the ground running like Ivan Perisic has.

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