Tottenham may raid Juventus amid Fabio Paratici’s love for 21-year-old

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Tottenham may be inclined to raid Juventus for one of their most promising young stars in the upcoming January transfer window if Fabio Paratici decides to return to the Italian market for a player he knows well. The north Londoners led a busy recruitment drive over the summer and have been tipped to add some extra quality to their ranks in January as Antonio Conte looks to prepare his squad for the Premier League run-in.

Tottenham’s plan of action for the mid-season market will primarily be executed by Paratici, who worked as Juventus’ chief football officer for over a decade before joining Spurs in May of last year. He was responsible for bringing a number of hugely talented players to the Allianz Stadium during his time in Italy and was a particularly keen admirer of Nicolo Fagioli, who joined the academy setup at Juventus back in 2015.

The 21-year-old turned plenty of heads at youth level for the Old Lady and finally managed to break into their first-team setup under Massimiliano Allegri earlier this year. Italian football agent Vincenzo Morabito has since revealed that Paratici was backing Fagioli to achieve great things from the very start, telling Calciomercato: “Paratici discovered him and told me that he would have gone far.”

Tottenham have not been credited with a specific interest in Fagioli ahead of the January window, although the idea of a move could pop up in Paratici’s head if the Juventus man continues to impress over the next few weeks. He was hailed by Allegri after scoring the winner in a narrow victory over Lecce at the end of last month, although the 55-year-old was quick to insist that he remains some way off his full potential as things stand.

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“He has great quality,” said Allegri. “His natural role is to play in front of the defence, but he has never really played there, so he needs to learn the movements. [Samuel] Iling also give him a good assist, the youngsters did well supported by some of those old guys around them.”

It remains to be seen whether Juventus would be willing to let go of Fagioli if Tottenham decide to mount a January approach, with the midfielder tied down until the summer of 2026 after signing a new contract in August. His agent, Andrea D’Amico, has already underlined his desire for Fagioli to remain at Juventus for the foreseeable future in order to keep developing on an upward trajectory under the watchful eye of Allegri.

“Allegri was the first to praise Nicolo’s qualities,” D’Amico told Tuttojuve. “My hope is that they can continue to work together in the interest of everyone and of the team. These young people are a heritage of Juventus, it’s nice to enhance them in the first team.”

Fagioli has only registered five senior appearances for Juventus since returning from a productive loan spell at Cremonese in Serie B at the end of last season. He has also scored a total of five goals at various youth levels for Italy, although he is yet to receive a debut call-up to the senior squad and is not expected to be considered for World Cup selection later this month.

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