Milan Skriniar offered captain armband in new deal, extension up to him

Inter Milan defender and PSG target Milan Skriniar is about to enter the final six months of his current deal with the Serie A team.

The defender, who was a transfer target of Paris Saint-Germain this last summer, has not yet reached an agreement with Inter to extend his contract, expiring in June 2023.

According to Fabrizio Romano's latest newsletter, published on Tuesday, Inter Milan has offered Skriniar "the captain's armband and a new deal." Romano writes that Inter are "still pushing to extend his contract."

This is not unknown news, mind you. Inter Milan acquired Skriniar all the way back in the summer of 2017 from Sampdoria spending €34M for the defender. He has gone on to play 236 matches for the Milan team scoring 11 goals and assisting four more in all competitions.

Skriniar, a staple of Inter's defense in the past few seasons, attracted the attention of PSG last summer but the Parisian club ultimately failed to land him. Now that he's about to be out of contract, the interest has ramped up again.

PSG is keeping track of Milan Skrikiar contract situation, with the Slovakian's deal running out in June 2023

Romano is also revealing that "Skriniar is not in negotiations to join Newcastle as of now," after the Premier League club recently taken over by a Saudi Arabia-led board got linked to the Slovakia international.

"Chelsea were considering last summer, PSG have always been leading the race," adds Romano.

While nothing has been signed yet, Skriniar "has to decide" by himself whether or not he wants to accept the terms offered by Inter Milan or if he would rather want out of Milan.

Skriniar has been offered the chance of leading Inter Milan by wearing the captain's armband on a full-time basis, moving up in the pecking order from no. 2 to no. 1 captain in Inter Milan ranks. Veteran goalkeeper Samir Handanovic (38 years old) is the current no. 1 captain of Inter.

If Skriniar declines Inter Milan's offer and with his current contract running out next June, it would make sense for Inter to sell him while they can to avoid losing him for nothing in the summer transfer window.

PSG are still waiting for a decision from the Slovakian defender. Nasser Al-Khelaifi is seemingly willing to pay for the defender in January in order to bolster the defensive line ahead of the second half of the season.

That said, the PSG president recently said that "Luis Campos and Christophe Galtier "didn't ask for anything," so we'll see if something happens next month.

Whether PSG's coach Christophe Galtier uses a four-man or a five-man defensive line going forward, the truth is that PSG would do well adding some reinforcements to that unit.

Sergio Ramos is showing aging signs. Presnel Kimpembe is banged up and still recovering from a recent injury picked up in Qatar while in the World Cup.

Outside of Brazil international Marquinhos, options are scarce with Danilo playing makeshift-center-back for PSG. The addition of Milan Skriniar would surely improve which, right now, feels like the weakest link in PSG's positional chain.

With just two weeks before the opening of the winter transfer window, Inter Milan is running out of time to convince Skriniar to extend his deal with their organization, and PSG could strike when the iron gets hot in a few weeks' time.