Tottenham’s hopes of signing Inter Milan defender Milan Skriniar have been dealt a blow after the club insisted he was not on the market.
Spurs have been in talks with the Serie A club over a deal for the Slovakia defender, but the club’s sporting director Piero Ausilio has cast doubt that Skriniar will be leaving Italy in this transfer window.
Inter’s stance could persuade Tottenham to instead switch their attentions to Chelsea’s out-of-favour centre-half Antonio Rudiger, with a permanent deal mooted.
Skriniar has yet to make the starting line-up for Inter in their first two Serie A games of the season, but with Spurs so far falling short of Inter’s €60m (£54.8m) asking price, Ausilio has appeared to raise the stakes.
He told Sky in Italy that the club do not want the 25-year-old to leave in the current transfer window.
“The transfer market runs for a few more days. We’ve brought in those we want and in fact have a few in excess,” Ausilio said before Inter’s 5-2 win over Benevento on Wednesday evening.
“I said the other day there has been contact for Skriniar, but we did not receive any particularly impressive offers and he is not on the market.
“I can’t do much else apart from reiterating the fact that he will stay here.”