Fabio Paratici reveals why Erling Haaland twice turned down Juventus, while Harry Kane ‘understood’ the reasons Tottenham Hotspur could not let him go to Manchester City.
The striker is now shattering records at the age of 21, including 12 goals in 15 senior caps for Norway, while this season he has found the net 11 times in just eight competitive appearances for Borussia Dortmund.
Paratici took over at Tottenham this summer, but had spent a decade dealing with Juventus transfer strategy.
“Haaland was close to Juventus the first time when he was 16-17 years old and still playing in Norway,” revealed Paratici during the Festival dello Sport in Trento.
“He wanted more space to play regularly, so he chose RB Salzburg. Then he picked Borussia Dortmund for the Bundesliga and of course more opportunities to play.
“It’s much easier at the age of 20 to play for Dortmund than it is a club like Juventus, especially as at that time we had Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain.
“The player simply chose a different sporting journey.”
Paratici also spoke about England international hitman Kane and how close he came to leaving for Manchester City over the summer.
“We have Kane, who is the best centre-forward in the world and we are enjoying his presence. We started the reconstruction process in the club and needed our most important player with us, not to sell him.
“Kane is a very intelligent man and cares about the club, so he understood and remained without problems.”
The 28-year-old came up through the Spurs youth system, with loans to Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich and Leicester City before settling permanently in 2013 and is under contract with the North London club until June 2024.
So far this season, he has found the net six times in 10 competitive appearances for Tottenham.
Paratici: “Haaland fu vicino alla Juve. Vlahovic al Tottenham? No, abbiamo Kane”#SkySport #Calciomercato #Paratici #Haaland #Juventus #Vlahovic #Tottenham #Kane https://t.co/SHfyWTxD0T
— skysport (@SkySport) October 10, 2021
If Haland came to Juventus he would have never become who he is today. At Juventus, he would have been a back up to Bentacour waiting for Bentacour one day to shine, and he would be fielded in Copa Italia match at 79th min and asked by allegri to shoot the ball in the stands to waste time when they are winning 1-0. This guy did the right choice.
‘ We have Kane, who is the best centre-forward in the world . . . . . . . .’
I know Spurs are your employers now, but really?
@Alex couldn’t have said it better myself haha
This guy is now working in the EPL with Spurs, why do we hear about him more now than when he was with Juventus?
Juve need to start believing young players and give them space.The story of Thiery Henry still hurts me to this day.