Meet the man behind the 'signing of the century' who could join Conte at Tottenham — The i Paper
Paratici pulled off some audacious signings in Serie A, but he leaves Juventus with a mixed legacyapple.news
Meet the man behind the 'signing of the century' who could join Conte at Tottenham
Paratici pulled off some audacious signings in Serie A, but he leaves Juventus with a mixed legacy
Next stop on Daniel Levy’s managerial train: a current serial winner. Unable to prise Mauricio Pochettino from Paris Saint-Germain, Tottenham Hotspur have held advanced talks with Antonio Conte to become their third boss in under two years.
The Italian is available after leaving Inter Milan in May, despite leading them to the Scudetto, his fifth title in nine years.
While not the “project” manager for whom Levy appeared to be on the lookout, it is a glittering CV which has attracted Spurs to another short-term solution. Conte has never managed any club for more than three years and the closest he came to building a dynasty was at Juventus.
One of his right-hand men in Turin, Fabio Paratici, is expected to follow him to north London if a deal is agreed. Spurs’ previous directors of football have had mixed results; Franco Baldini to Damien Comolli hardly a roaring success, Frank Arnesen impressive before his treachery in joining Chelsea.
By appointing Paratici, Levy would be sanctioning a wider upheaval at the highest echelons of the club, relinquishing a share of his own power.
That is not necessarily a wise move, however, explains Italian football consultant Chloe Beresford of Curva e Calcio. “Paratici worked well under [Juventus chief executive officer] Beppe Marotta – who he’d worked with previously at Sampdoria – and when Marotta left, he was put in sole charge of transfers,” Beresford told i.
“He did some good deals and some bad deals but really struggled with selling players and has been incapable of building a coherent squad. I’d say he’s a great talent spotter – for example Weston McKennie – but as a sporting director with full control I’m not sure he has what it takes.”
Paratici’s biggest deals
Cristiano Ronaldo (Signed from Real Madrid, £99m)
Gonzalo Higuain (Signed from Napoli, £81m)
Matthijs de Ligt (Signed from Ajax, £67.5m)
Arthur (Signed from Barcelona, £65m)
Joao Cancelo (Signed from Valencia, £36m)
Douglas Costa (Signed from Bayern Munich, £36m)
Paulo Dybala (Signed from Palermo, £36m)
Federico Bernadeschi (Signed from Fiorentina, £36m)
Danilo (Signed from Manchester City, £33m)
The 48-year-old spent 11 years with the Old Lady in various capacities. During that time, Juventus gained a reputation as shrewd movers in the market, primarily thanks to a number of high-profile free signings.
Andrea Pirlo was the very best of them, but there was Paul Pogba, too (an £89m mark-up was made when he was later sold to Manchester United, the same club who had relinquished him as a teenager). There was Dani Alves, Emre Can, and Sami Khedira too.
Paratici’s magnum opus came in 2018 when he achieved what countless of Juventus’ European rivals had failed to do and signed Cristiano Ronaldo. Pouncing on the Portuguese’s unhappiness at the Bernabeu, a price tag of €112m (£99m) for a 33-year-old was baulked at. It has since been vindicated somewhat by more than a century of goals and was hailed by Paratici, in his own words, as the “signing of the century”.
Matthijs de Ligt was another coup, snared from under the noses of Manchester United. Likewise, his £67.5m fee raised alarm when he initially struggled to settle, though he is still only 21.
With Massimiliano Allegri now in charge for a second time, Paratici left Juventus at the end of May as part of a restructuring following a fourth-placed finish. Tottenham are now embarking on a shake-up of their own with mounting pressure on Levy to get it right this time.
Just to add to this, under his watch, they sacked Allegri after he won a bunch of titles, then sacked Sarri after he won the title, and brought in Pirlo who finished 4th.
