Tottenham Hotspur director Fabio Paratici explains what ex-Juventus players Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur can bring to Spurs, while in Antonio Conte they have ‘one of the best coaches in the world.’
The Premier League side has a very Italian flavour to it this season, with Paratici and Conte taking control of their strategy.
That was reflected in the January transfer market, with a total €70m swoop for Juve pair Bentancur and Kulusevski.
“I think we found the right players in the right positions, like Bentancur and Kulusevski,” said Paratici on the club’s YouTube channel.
“They are young, but have a lot of experience, because Bentancur played five years at Juventus, almost 200 games, and Kulusevski almost 100. They played for the national teams, World Cup and European cup.
“They can improve in this league, this squad and with this coach, but already have good experience.”
Bentancur and Kulusevski both struggled to find their place in Max Allegri’s Juventus, so how would Paratici present the Uruguay and Sweden international to Spurs fans?
“He is a complete midfielder, box-to-box, a really reliable player. Dejan is just 21, but as I explained before, he scored 10 goals and 10 assists at Juventus. He’s a really good prospect, but also played 35 games at Parma and scored a lot, so a big prospect.
“Both players have a lot of character, a lot of intensity. Dejan is a forward, but he runs and fights a lot, has a big personality, is very ambitious, so this is the most important skill he has.”
Paratici joined Tottenham from Juventus over the summer and was instrumental in choosing Conte as their new manager on November 2.
“I always work with the coach for the transfer window. I’ve known Antonio a long time, we achieved big results, so we speak every day about how we can improve the team, how we can improve the mentality, environment, football, etc.
“If we speak about rebuilding, we look back six-seven months ago when I first got here. It takes time and patience, we sold some players who maybe needed other motivations, we bought younger players with motivation, technical level and mentality to improve the team.
“We signed one of the best coaches in the world, so I think we are in the right direction.”
🎙 “They are young, but with a lot of experience. They can improve in this league, in this squad with this coach”
We sat down with Fabio Paratici to discuss our business during the January transfer window and look ahead to the rest of the season ⤵️
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 3, 2022
This man is a joke!!!!
@ MZ Maybe he’s saying the same thing about you, and probably with more reason 😉