Antonio Conte confessed he had ‘tried’ to sign Dejan Kulusevski at Inter before Juventus snapped him up, so jumped at the chance to bring him to Tottenham Hotspur. ‘Maybe they put up more money.’
The Sweden international has been a sensation since moving to Spurs in the January transfer window, on an 18-month loan for €10m with option to buy for a further €35m plus bonuses.
He already has two goals and five assists in 12 official matches for the Premier League club.
“When I was the coach of Inter, I tried to ask him, but Juventus moved before, maybe they put more money than us at the time, and they bought this player,” said Conte.
“We are talking about a player who is only 21 or 22 years old. He has to continue playing this way, because he is strong physically, he is good technically. I think that for Tottenham he is a good signing for the present and for the future, because we are talking about a strong player.”
Kulusevski was purchased by Atalanta’s youth academy in 2016 for €3.5m and really shone while on loan at Parma in 2019-20.
Just six months into that spell, he had done enough to warrant Juve spending €35m plus bonuses to snap him up, leaving the Swede at Parma for the rest of the season.
Tottenham also signed Kulusevski’s Juventus teammate Rodrigo Bentancur in the January transfer window, although Conte again hinted he was unhappy that Spurs sold four players and brought in only two.
“Rodrigo Bentancur too, despite the fact we lost four players in January, with these two signings we made this squad more complete, with more balance.”
“Parliamo di uno davvero forte, è stato un grande acquisto”
“Lo volevo all’Inter ma forse la Juve aveva messo più soldi”Conte è già pazzo di Kulusevski 😍 pic.twitter.com/5EA4ZYpRID
— GOAL Italia (@GoalItalia) April 4, 2022