'Medical passed': Fabrizio Romano confirms Tottenham and Aston Villa beaten to transfer coup

Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa are set to be beaten to the signing of Paris Saint-Germain defender Milan Škriniar with the 29-year-old on the verge of confirming a deal with Turkish outfit Fenerbahçe.

Football Insider had claimed that Spurs were looking at a January swoop for the player as recently as last week, with Unai Emery's side also named as potential suitors. However, it will not be a move to the Premier League for the Serie A and Ligue 1 winner.

Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has carried reports of Fenerbahçe interest and, on Sunday, confirmed that the deal was now just awaiting official confirmation with other pieces of business needing to be sorted first. Taking to social media platform X, Romano wrote: "Milan Škriniar has passed his medical at Fenerbahçe with no problems or issues.

Škriniar set for Fenerbahçe move

"Deal not official yet as PSG need to sell one player they’ve on loan to sanction one more loan move, same as Kolo Muani case with Juventus. Škriniar and Fenerbahçe, waiting for PSG."

Spurs had been credited with interest in the player as a result of an injury crisis in their back line. Micky Van de Ven and Cristian Romero have missed large parts of the season with teenager Archie Gray having to fill in at centre-back.

Ange Postecoglou fielded Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies, who has also struggled with injury, against Leicester City on Sunday. Van de Ven and Romero were not on the bench, despite having been seen in training this week.

Škriniar would have arrived in North London as an experienced option. The Slovakia international has spent spells at Sampdoria and Inter Milan, before making the move to PSG in 2023. As well as those league titles, the defender has won two Coppa Italias, a Coupe de France and has a runners-up medal in both the Champions League and the Europa League.

The player has only made five appearances for PSG this season under Luis Enrique. He has not been in the matchday squad for the last three Ligue 1 games.

Ange Postecoglou on Tottenham transfers

Spurs boss Postecoglou has hinted at January investment in defence but also refused to blame the injury crisis for his side's poor form of late. However, he did warn that the club was 'playing with fire' should they fail to improve the squad this week.

The Aussie said: "I’m not out there trying to find opportunities for the club, that’s not my role at this time. There isn’t time to do it.

"I don’t think I’m stating anything other than the obvious and for me to come here and say something else would be disingenuous. This playing group needs help, there’s no doubt about that. We’re sort of playing with fire by not bringing anyone in, but the flip side of that is the club is trying to change that situation."

Spurs fell to a 2-1 defeat to Leicester City on Sunday afternoon at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Richarlison opened the scoring for the London outfit but goals from Jamie Vardy and Bilal El Khannouss secured a huge three points for the relegation-threatened outfit.