Tottenham’s Italian job! Antonio Conte and Fabio Paratici are targeting Serie A to revitalise Spurs

Tottenham sporting director Fabio Paratici is building a top team in north London – and he’s doing it by adding several players every year who have impressed in Italy. 

Among these are the likes of Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski; both were not featuring for Juventus, both were not the club’s plan A in the January transfer market but both benefited from Antonio Conte’s extraordinary revitalising impact.  

Conte is one of the most capable coaches in Europe when it comes to reshaping the careers of players. Take Ashley Young and Matteo Darmain at Inter, for example. 

Tottenham sporting director Fabio Paratici (L) speaking with Antonio Conte in November 

Paratici brought in fresh blood from Juventus: Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski 

He also rebuilt Lautaro Martinez’s career, with the Argentine having been confined to the bench under Luciano Spalletti at the San Siro.

Conte’s work with Kulusevski in particular has been impeccable despite the fact that the first choice was Luis Diaz, who went to Liverpool. 

Yet based on this extraordinary work, it cannot be ruled out that Tottenham will decide to buy other players from Italy – and Sportsmail takes a deeper look at this. 

THE ITALIAN JOB 

Ivan Perisic’s purchase confirmed the theory that Italians try to build chains of relationships based on personal knowledge. 

Paratici has made this a virtue by helping Tottenham to have a greater personality on the pitch, obtaining players who have experienced elite Serie A football.

Historically, players who have had experience in Serie A have a greater ability to adapt to the Premier League, becoming very often key players in their teams.

Paratici and Conte are aware of this aspect and have always tried to hunt the best profile of player for Tottenham.

Italian football begins to enjoy more acclaim abroad thanks to the work of Conte and Paratici, considered men capable of getting great results even in difficult initial conditions. 

Ivan Perisic, formerly of Inter Milan in Serie A, was Tottenham’s first signing of the summer 

Paratici’s specialty is to buy players who are useful to meet the tactical needs of his coaches

Paratici is a talent scout, he loves young talents and his specialty is to buy players who are useful to meet the tactical needs of his coaches. 

So far Cristian Romero, Bentancur and Kulusevski have responded positively to the rigours of the Premier League. 

Paratici has a lot of aggression when he follows the games, he is a boisterous Italian who learned to live playing in Serie C in Brindisi, Puglia, winning the Serie C Italian Cup.

Tottenham’s sporting director knows well the need to have strength and personality to achieve success, qualities that he uses in building his teams.

Cristian Romero is another recent signing who has impressed since arriving in north London

CONTE THE MAGICIAN

Conte changed the fate of an initially negative season for Spurs; in 28 Premier League games he registered a total of 56 points, for a perfect average of two points per game. 

He was able to revitalise Harry Kane, bring Son Heung-min to the top of the Premier League goalscoring leaderboard with 23 goals and he was able to buy influential players in the winter market, with the net result being Champions League qualification. 

Kulusevski is the real protagonist of the second half of the season, with five goals and eight assists.

There is a lot of Italian DNA in Kulusevski’s rebirth: Conte succeeded in a sporting miracle that is difficult to understand except through knowledge of the Italian system of action. 

Conte is a psychological coach who talked a lot with Kulusevski in the language he knows best

Conte is a psychological coach who talked a lot with Kulusevski in the language he knows best, using the Italian language to convey the best and fastest concepts to create a reset in the Swedish winger. 

Work done by Conte with Kulusevski was much more difficult than that done by the Italian coach with Bentancur. The reason is very simple: the Uruguayan is a dogged performer in the middle of the field while Kulusevski is a very shy, quality player who must have a lot of confidence and a lot of motivation to make the leap into the top player category.

IS MCKENNIE THE NEXT SPURS PURCHASE?

Serie A is the European league that Conte and Paratici knows best, given their successful tenures at Juve and Inter. 

And according to Italian media, they could look the way of Italy once again: Weston McKennie has been heavily linked with a move away from Juve, as Conte continues to look to bolster his squad with Serie A experience.

Weston McKennie has been heavily linked with a move to Tottenham away from Juve

The American midfielder could see his game-time limited should Paul Pogba rejoin the Old Lady and Paratici, the man who brought him to Turin after his experience in the Bundesliga, is analysing how a move could materialise.

The former Schalke 04 star was brought to Juve in 2020 by Paratici, impressed by the box-to-box qualities of the American, whose performance at Juventus were more than satisfactory in his first season with Andrea Pirlo at the helm and in the second with Max Allegri.

He sustained an injury against Villarreal in March but is still a top player with raw potential. Watch this space.