Jose Mourinho 'desperate to bring Milan Skriniar to Tottenham Hotspur'

Tottenham Hotspur want to bring Milan Skriniar to the club during this summer's transfer window but could ultimately be priced out of a move, according to Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano.

Skriniar was strongly linked with a move away from Inter Milan last year, having lost his regular spot in the starting XI, but the Slovakia international has been a key player for Antonio Conte's side this season, making 30 appearances in all competitions.

According to Romano, Spurs offered a fee in the region of £30m last summer, which was some way short of the Italian club's asking price.

The Italian journalist has claimed that the North London club might now have to pay in excess of £60m if they want to bring the 26-year-old to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

"I will mention again Skriniar because they love this player," Romano said on his Here We Go podcast. "They are scouting, they love this player, they are convinced he would be perfect. Mourinho loves this player. He's one of the players they are convinced would be perfect.

"It is about the scouting, the board, Mourinho. They have one big problem, they were really close to signing Milan Skriniar, they offered like €35m (£30m), Inter were asking for €50m (£42.5m), so they were close, but they decided to give up.

"What happened in this moment is that Conte is doing an amazing job with Skriniar and now he is a starter, before they had Diego Godin and Skriniar wasn't playing, now he's a starter and he is doing so well, fans are in love with Skriniar, so now it is not €50m (£42.5m), I think it will be around €80/75m (£68m/£63m) for Skriniar."

The Slovakian has also previously been linked with both Manchester United and Manchester City.