Fabio Paratici - Consultant

[BrainOfLevy]

Paulo Fonseca has broken his silence on his aborted appointment as Tottenham head coach, claiming managing director Fabio Paratici changed the vision chairman Daniel Levy had set out for him by ordering a more defensive approach.

Fonseca was on the verge of taking over at Spurs in June, having verbally agreed a deal with Levy, until a change of direction from Paratici saw the move collapse at the last minute.

Levy and Spurs director of football Steve Hitchen had set up the appointment of Fonseca as Jose Mourinho’s successor, having failed to appoint Antonio Conte, only for Paratici to effectively pull the plug on the deal.

It marked an embarrassing few weeks for Spurs in their search for a manager and Paratici eventually got his own way with the appointment of Nuno Espirito Santo, who had previously been ruled out of the running.

Fonseca, who left Roma in the summer, still wants to manage in the Premier League but insists he was not prepared to sacrifice his philosophy to comply with Paratici’s safety-first vision.

“All the details were settled,” said Fonseca, speaking to Portuguese television channel SIC. “I was really prepared for a new adventure at Tottenham but, with the general manager (Paratici) coming in, we had some disagreements that were difficult to overcome.

“I really want to coach the best teams, but I cannot compromise my ideas, I cannot compromise my values just to coach a big team. The truth is that the president (Levy) and the sporting director (Hitchen) always argued that the team should be offensive, should be attractive, should be a dominant team which went in the direction of what my teams are, in essence.

“And with the entry of the new general director, things changed a little bit. They wanted to go in another direction and, obviously, it wasn’t possible to develop something I didn’t believe in.”

https://twitter.com/x/status/1429001675080089600

So it wasn’t just Romano making up brick? Good to know!

 

[Mcfee]

Paulo Fonseca has broken his silence on his aborted appointment as Tottenham head coach, claiming managing director Fabio Paratici changed the vision chairman Daniel Levy had set out for him by ordering a more defensive approach.

Fonseca was on the verge of taking over at Spurs in June, having verbally agreed a deal with Levy, until a change of direction from Paratici saw the move collapse at the last minute.

Levy and Spurs director of football Steve Hitchen had set up the appointment of Fonseca as Jose Mourinho’s successor, having failed to appoint Antonio Conte, only for Paratici to effectively pull the plug on the deal.

It marked an embarrassing few weeks for Spurs in their search for a manager and Paratici eventually got his own way with the appointment of Nuno Espirito Santo, who had previously been ruled out of the running.

Fonseca, who left Roma in the summer, still wants to manage in the Premier League but insists he was not prepared to sacrifice his philosophy to comply with Paratici’s safety-first vision.

“All the details were settled,” said Fonseca, speaking to Portuguese television channel SIC. “I was really prepared for a new adventure at Tottenham but, with the general manager (Paratici) coming in, we had some disagreements that were difficult to overcome.

“I really want to coach the best teams, but I cannot compromise my ideas, I cannot compromise my values just to coach a big team. The truth is that the president (Levy) and the sporting director (Hitchen) always argued that the team should be offensive, should be attractive, should be a dominant team which went in the direction of what my teams are, in essence.

“And with the entry of the new general director, things changed a little bit. They wanted to go in another direction and, obviously, it wasn’t possible to develop something I didn’t believe in.”

https://twitter.com/x/status/1429001675080089600

He didn’t get the Fiorentina job either. It’ll be interesting to see where he goes next and how he gets on.

 

[SpurMeUp]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1432283116027121664

Is it Hitchen or someone else Fing and blinding? Good to see them fully invested. Although Levy had a season ticket pre-Enic he looks the part in the Directors box. These two...put them in jeans, trainers and T-Shirt and they'd be comfortable in the South Stand. Wouldn't want them in front of you mind

 

[El Guepardo]

The same question continued as was asked at the very start of this thread. What does the current Director of Football, now Paratici, actually do?

Seems very much like a scatter gun approach. Highlight ten players, go after them and buy the player where there is least resistance.

I like the signings, those aren’t at question, but it does seem as if we struggle to get a deal across the line. Once again, with Moriba, we appear to have missed out. I wonder what difference Paratici has really made. As for player sales, we don’t seem able to shift anyone again. Sissoko we sold cheaply, Hart must have been a bare minimum fee. Aurier still here. Ndombele still here even if everyone wants him out*.


* I’m happy that Ndombele is still here as I still have hopes he can deliver. But maybe time has run out for him.

 

[lurker of old]

Something I suspect Paratici will do, is enable Mr levy to do his own job better. A good Direct Report, someone you trust, someone you can have honest conversations with, always adds value. Hopefully Paratici is that man.

 

[braineclipse]

The same question continued as was asked at the very start of this thread. What does the current Director of Football, now Paratici, actually do?

Seems very much like a scatter gun approach. Highlight ten players, go after them and buy the player where there is least resistance.

I like the signings, those aren’t at question, but it does seem as if we struggle to get a deal across the line. Once again, with Moriba, we appear to have missed out. I wonder what difference Paratici has really made. As for player sales, we don’t seem able to shift anyone again. Sissoko we sold cheaply, Hart must have been a bare minimum fee. Aurier still here. Ndombele still here even if everyone wants him out*.


* I’m happy that Ndombele is still here as I still have hopes he can deliver. But maybe time has run out for him.

Not sure it's about signing the player where there is least resistance, probably more about where the best deal can be made to get the most for our money.

As long as the players identified are good enough and the right profile there nothing wrong with targeting multiple players.

Getting any money for Hart is good business. Not having to cover any of wages for the remainder of his contract would be good business.

Been a really difficult window to do business in, and it's not yet over. Perfectly happy so far. The evaluation point will be when we can make an informed decision on how the signings actually turned out, that will be in a couple of years for some of them. Positive signs so far.

Assuming we miss out on Moriba, that happens. If that not happening is the measuring stick for success there's no winning for Paratici.

 

[Raziel]

 

[Bedfordspurs]

The same question continued as was asked at the very start of this thread. What does the current Director of Football, now Paratici, actually do?

Seems very much like a scatter gun approach. Highlight ten players, go after them and buy the player where there is least resistance.

I like the signings, those aren’t at question, but it does seem as if we struggle to get a deal across the line. Once again, with Moriba, we appear to have missed out. I wonder what difference Paratici has really made. As for player sales, we don’t seem able to shift anyone again. Sissoko we sold cheaply, Hart must have been a bare minimum fee. Aurier still here. Ndombele still here even if everyone wants him out*.


* I’m happy that Ndombele is still here as I still have hopes he can deliver. But maybe time has run out for him.

May want to re think that now

 

[Lilbaz]

The same question continued as was asked at the very start of this thread. What does the current Director of Football, now Paratici, actually do?

Seems very much like a scatter gun approach. Highlight ten players, go after them and buy the player where there is least resistance.

I like the signings, those aren’t at question, but it does seem as if we struggle to get a deal across the line. Once again, with Moriba, we appear to have missed out. I wonder what difference Paratici has really made. As for player sales, we don’t seem able to shift anyone again. Sissoko we sold cheaply, Hart must have been a bare minimum fee. Aurier still here. Ndombele still here even if everyone wants him out*.


* I’m happy that Ndombele is still here as I still have hopes he can deliver. But maybe time has run out for him.

Even real madrid and Emirates Marketing Project miss out on transfers.

If a player want's to join a different club there's not much you can do. You move on.

 

[DubaiSpur]

Thinking about Paratici's role..the one thing that comes to mind is how this summer has been an absolute whirl of activity compared to some of the most grindingly depressing summers under Levy.

In general, we see a greatly elevated level of ins and outs under DoFs. Was the case under Comolli, under Baldini and under Mitchell. Even under Hitchen last season.

That has been the case under Paratici as well. Transfers are done quicker, less haggling, and more ins and outs with a little less concern for the loss taken on moving players on or the premium paid to bring them in.

I think, on the whole, the DoF model at Spurs is basically Levy giving someone a budget and then letting them wheel and deal to meet that budget. This summer, we had a net spend of roughly 50m, which I assume equates to how much we had to spend independent of sales.

Within those constraints, in a pandemic-influenced market where no one had anything to spend outaide of England, Paratici did remarkably well to close about 12-13 transfers in total in terms of incomings and outgoings, including two (imo) signings above our level in Romero and Emerson. And I think that's about as transformative as any of our DoFs can be - wheeling and dealing within Levy's constraints.

In that sense, Paratici has done very well. My only worry with him is whether he's here for the long term - I just have a feeling he was brought in to spend the Kane money, and now that hasn't happened, how long will he stick around? He's used to playing in bigger, more expensive markets than he's had to work with at Spurs - I just hope he stays, because I can't bear going back to having our glorious leader in charge of spending money again.

Won't be good for my mental health, anyway.

 

[Raziel]

In that sense, Paratici has done very well. My only worry with him is whether he's here for the long term - I just have a feeling he was brought in to spend the Kane money, and now that hasn't happened, how long will he stick around? He's used to playing in bigger, more expensive markets than he's had to work with at Spurs - I just hope he stays, because I can't bear going back to having our glorious leader in charge of spending money again.

Won't be good for my mental health, anyway.

His last gig was 11 years, one before was 6, don't think this guy does short term ..

 

[BrainOfLevy]

Thinking about Paratici's role..the one thing that comes to mind is how this summer has been an absolute whirl of activity compared to some of the most grindingly depressing summers under Levy.

In general, we see a greatly elevated level of ins and outs under DoFs. Was the case under Comolli, under Baldini and under Mitchell. Even under Hitchen last season.

That has been the case under Paratici as well. Transfers are done quicker, less haggling, and more ins and outs with a little less concern for the loss taken on moving players on or the premium paid to bring them in.

I think, on the whole, the DoF model at Spurs is basically Levy giving someone a budget and then letting them wheel and deal to meet that budget. This summer, we had a net spend of roughly 50m, which I assume equates to how much we had to spend independent of sales.

Within those constraints, in a pandemic-influenced market where no one had anything to spend outaide of England, Paratici did remarkably well to close about 12-13 transfers in total in terms of incomings and outgoings, including two (imo) signings above our level in Romero and Emerson. And I think that's about as transformative as any of our DoFs can be - wheeling and dealing within Levy's constraints.

In that sense, Paratici has done very well. My only worry with him is whether he's here for the long term - I just have a feeling he was brought in to spend the Kane money, and now that hasn't happened, how long will he stick around? He's used to playing in bigger, more expensive markets than he's had to work with at Spurs - I just hope he stays, because I can't bear going back to having our glorious leader in charge of spending money again.

Won't be good for my mental health, anyway.

He’s got so much energy, he strikes me as someone that has learnt from the best, has acquired all the knowledge, but wants to now strike out on his own and build something for himself. He was part of a bigger machine at Juve, but he’s the man at Spurs. I am sure he loves it.

It really is amazing that in the space of 2 months we have that feeling of it feeling like a family again, everyone pulling in the same direction. We’re gonna have hard times to come no doubt, but that feeling is back. Fabio deserves a lot of credit for understanding what our club should be, finding the players to fit that vision and getting a coach who can carry it out on the field. My only concern is why go for Gattuso before Nuno?

But I really like him. Clearly super knowledgeable, super well connected, but with the energy to actually make stuff happen, which is what we need in a club like ours. Levy also deserves credit for recruiting him.

 

[Surfless]

I have a question for our DOF - and our manager and you chaps.


What is it that we saw in Adama Traoré that meant we were prepared to spend £30m or thereabouts on him?

He scored two goals and got two assists last season. He has 7 goals and 14 assists since he came to England. In 140 games!!!!

one assist every 10 games and one goal every 20 is not worth £10m let alone £30m!


Run away Fabio - RUN AWAY!

 

[JerusalemMan]

I have a question for our DOF - and our manager and you chaps.


What is it that we saw in Adama Traoré that meant we were prepared to spend £30m or thereabouts on him?

He scored two goals and got two assists last season. He has 7 goals and 14 assists since he came to England. In 140 games!!!!

one assist every 10 games and one goal every 20 is not worth £10m let alone £30m!


Run away Fabio - RUN AWAY!

I think it was our newly appointed manager identifying Traore as a player he knew, worked well with, and felty could get even more out of under our system and with our squad around him. I hope it's not the case that Levy did shoot down the deal at the last minute because that'd be an early undermining of both Nuno and Fabio.

 

[Raziel]

I have a question for our DOF - and our manager and you chaps.


What is it that we saw in Adama Traoré that meant we were prepared to spend £30m or thereabouts on him?

He scored two goals and got two assists last season. He has 7 goals and 14 assists since he came to England. In 140 games!!!!

one assist every 10 games and one goal every 20 is not worth £10m let alone £30m!


Run away Fabio - RUN AWAY!

Same thing everyone else sees

- A player that is damn near unplayable, brings width & pace to a side, and makes the opponents brick themselves.
- Last night against Sweden, he broke on the counter and 5 Swedish players had to close him down, 5!

The flip side to it, is your point, not enough goals and not enough assists (no end product)
- The goals is on him, he should score more
- The assists are a little more debatable, if you look at the first three Wolves games this season, in each game he made 3-4 passes to attackers in/around the box who should have done better, chances you could argue a Kane/Son would have put away.

For us, he clearly would have added a physicality, a threat on the counter, width while creating space for other players in the team. He also can give you an outlet as he can hold the ball as well, the question is (and it's been done to death in the Traore thread), how much is that worth? and can he genuinely improve from here? I think for £30M we would have done it, issue is Wolves were looking for something closer to £50M.

Simple case of would have taken for the right price because the manager felt he could do something with him. We will see next summer.

 

[Gazza Dazzla]

For 30m it’s a no brainer as a buy! Unfortunately Wolves wouldn’t play ball, if Traore was so brick you’d think they’d be happy to let him go for that price? They obviously value higher.

 

[braineclipse]

Same thing everyone else sees

- A player that is damn near unplayable, brings width & pace to a side, and makes the opponents brick themselves.
- Last night against Sweden, he broke on the counter and 5 Swedish players had to close him down, 5!

The flip side to it, is your point, not enough goals and not enough assists (no end product)
- The goals is on him, he should score more
- The assists are a little more debatable, if you look at the first three Wolves games this season, in each game he made 3-4 passes to attackers in/around the box who should have done better, chances you could argue a Kane/Son would have put away.

For us, he clearly would have added a physicality, a threat on the counter, width while creating space for other players in the team. He also can give you an outlet as he can hold the ball as well, the question is (and it's been done to death in the Traore thread), how much is that worth? and can he genuinely improve from here? I think for £30M we would have done it, issue is Wolves were looking for something closer to £50M.

Simple case of would have taken for the right price because the manager felt he could do something with him. We will see next summer.

What you say, and:

His goal total matches his xG fairly well. Not getting into scoring positions may be a result of poor movement, a lack of movement, awareness, decision making or whatever.

It may also be a result of the role he plays, the role he's been asked to play. For Wolves under Nuno he was playing really wide on the right most of the time, even as a wing back at times. As a winger he had Doherty behind him, mostly coming inside. A different role might have seen more goals, but that's of course impossible to really know.

Assists were poor last season, in a team that lost one key attacking player to injury and another to Liverpool. And in a team that struggled quite a lot in general.

Before that his assist numbers were getting better, actually had decent or even solid xA numbers the two seasons before last season.

I'm sure we'll rehash this one of there are credible links come the next transfer window.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

I think it was our newly appointed manager identifying Traore as a player he knew, worked well with, and felty could get even more out of under our system and with our squad around him. I hope it's not the case that Levy did shoot down the deal at the last minute because that'd be an early undermining of both Nuno and Fabio.

Levy would have nothing to do with it. Paratici and Hitchen have a budget, and can buy whoever within that.

Levy will only be consulted on really bid deals (like Kane) and special situations ie opportunities to good to miss but would take us above budget.

 

[parklane1]

I think it was our newly appointed manager identifying Traore as a player he knew, worked well with, and felty could get even more out of under our system and with our squad around him. I hope it's not the case that Levy did shoot down the deal at the last minute because that'd be an early undermining of both Nuno and Fabio.

The only thing Levy MAY have said about the transfer was that he is not worth anything near 50 ( he is not). Lot of flimflam rumours started by the so called ITK over on SC. No need to take any real notice of them.

 

[Lilbaz]

The only thing Levy MAY have said about the transfer was that he is not worth anything near 50 ( he is not). Lot of flimflam rumours started by the so called ITK over on SC. No need to take any real notice of them.

This. Sc itk's as usual promising a massive spend. Even though levy and ally gold both said finances were tight. All the chat get excited. A&c hits them with a donation drive. They all pay up. Then when it becomes blatantly obvious that incomings are dependent on outgoings. The goat (a&c) pipes up saying levy moved the goal posts, he lied about spending money. The other itk's jump on it to cover their arses. Everyone gets the hump with levy and thanks the itk's.

Every fudging transfer window it's the same.

Yes if we sold kane and ndombele we would have brought more in, but we didn't. The £30m that we had to buy traore we spent on emerson instead. As wolves wanted £50m.