Tottenham Hotspur had been looking to bring in a new central defender this window, with Milan Skriniar being the prime target; however, any hopes of landing the 29-year-old have been dashed, and all thanks to a familiar face at Hotspur Way. Former Lilywhites head coach Jose Mourinho is said to have played a key role in persuading the PSG defender to join Fenerbahce and hindering a potential move to White Hart Lane in the process.
Mourinho made sure Skriniar moved to Turkey
Turkish outlet BBO Sports insists that Mourinho’s played a pivotal part in convincing Skriniar to move to Turkey with the Portuguese manager, who is now in charge of Fenerbahce, successfully pursued the 29-year-old centre-back, who was eventually left out of PSG’s squad for their Champions League clash with Manchester City yesterday.
And in the interview that followed, the former Chelsea manager insisted that it was not him but the attraction of playing for Fenerbahce and living in Istanbul, complemented by the competitive nature of the Turkish league, that eventually ended up being the weighing stone in the Slovakian. Jose went on to downplay his involvement and credit the club’s sporting director, Mario Branco, instead.
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.”
For Tottenham, this comes as a big blow given how aggressively they were looking to bring in a new central defender, and with their prime target out of possibilities, Daniel Levy will now have to dig deep to find a probable alternative who can closely replicate the veteran’s experience to guide Ange Postecoglou’s defensive frailties.
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