Manchester City: Antonio Conte open to swap deal for Milan Skriniar

According to recent reports, Inter manager Antonio Conte is said to be open to a deal with Manchester City for centre-back Milan Skriniar.

Following Liverpool’s coronation as 2019/20 Premier League winners, it has been widely discussed which areas of the pitch Manchester City need to strengthen in this summer in order to mount a title challenge once again next season.

The primary position appears to be in central defence, with Pep Guardiola stating himself that he would like to bring in two new centre-backs ahead of next season.

This seems a reasonable assessment, as at present, City have already conceded 11 more goals this term than in their 2018/19 campaign, despite having three games still to play.

In terms of targets, Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly has been heavily linked with a move to City, while reports have also suggested that Inter’s Skriniar is on the radar of Guardiola’s side.

And, according to reports by Italian broadcaster Sport Mediaset (via SempreInter), Conte would be willing to give City Skriniar this summer, in exchange for City’s £50.4 million-rated Gabriel Jesus.

TIF Thoughts…

Although it does appear clear that City are in need of improvements at the back this summer – and bringing Skriniar in could very well solve that issue – if a move for the Inter centre-back was to mean the departure of Jesus, the deal would appear to create another problem for Guardiola’s side.

With City having just two recognised strikers in their squad, selling one of them in order to plug a gap in the defence would merely create another hole that City would need to fill this summer.

In any case, we will simply have to wait and see if a Skriniar-Jesus swap deal materialises, and if it does, who Guardiola would want to bring in to replace the Brazilian.