Who is Paratici as ex-Juventus transfer man is linked with Tottenham?

Fabio Paratici is the free transfer MASTER and brought Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Pogba and Andrea Pirlo to Juventus but left under a major cloud… so would an Antonio Conte reunion at Spurs work?

• Tottenham have held talks with Antonio Conte over becoming their new boss
• It could also see Fabio Paratici come to London as their technical director
• Paratici spent 11 years at Juventus, a time in which they won some 19 trophies
• He was the man who brought in Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Pogba and others
• Paratici is a master of seeking out free signings, such as Aaron Ramsey
• But he came under fire from the Juve owners over the Luis Suarez non-signing  

Tottenham have held talks with Antonio Conte over becoming their next manager as the Premier League club continue their search for Jose Mourinho’s successor.

But an intriguing side story is that former Juventus chief football officer Fabio Paratici could come in as Tottenham’s technical director.

The 48-year-old administrator is the man who brought Paul Pogba and Cristiano Ronaldo to Turin as well as several eye-raising purchases that didn’t cost a penny. But it all turned sour over the Luis Suarez case.

Sportsmail’s ALVISE CAGNAZZO has everything you need to know about Paratici.

Fabio Paratici with the Serie A trophy after their title success in the 2019-20 campaign

Master of the free transfer

Fabio Paratici has been a Juventus talisman for over 11 years, a sports director with a passion for young people and for the top players on the free transfer list.

Andrea Pirlo, Lucio, Adrien Rabiot, Sami Khedira and Aaron Ramsey are among the players he brought in without the Agnelli family, the owners of Juventus, having to spend a single cent.

Move of the century

But his best deal must be the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018.

A documentary produced by Sky Sport in 2019 revealed how Paratici was the man who masterminded the purchase of the century from Real Madrid.

Paratici (second left) was the man who masterminded the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo (left)

Paul Pogba (left) and Andrea Pirlo (right) were two other players Paratici brought to the club

‘I entered Andrea Angelli’s room and I told him, ‘President, don’t kick me out of this office’, Paratici said. ‘I have news, we can buy CR7 and bring him here.

‘Agnelli told me to sit down. After a few weeks, we announced the purchase of Ronaldo to the world and brought him to Turin.’

A shy yet passionate character

Paratici has always been a shy character but since the departure of CEO Giuseppe Marotta in 2018, he has tried to overcome his reticence in front of the cameras by presenting himself before the microphones of Sky Sport Italia and Dazn every Sunday.

This shyness vanishes when he is in the stands, however. His temperament is very passionate and often in his career as a sports director he has suffered fines and sanctions for offensive attitudes towards referees.

Paratici pictured in the stands with Juventus president Andrea Agnelli at a game last season

He is highly superstitious and throughout his whole time as Juventus sporting director he wore an undershirt with buttons under his jacket in every single pre and post-game appearance.

The place where Paratici does his transfer business has always been the Hotel Parco dei Principi in Milan, where he has an office for weekly appointments with various agents.

The farewell of Marotta, who was something of a father figure, created a rupture between the pair.

Marotta, who is now at Inter Milan, has repeatedly declared he felt betrayed by the young sporting director he weaned like a son during 16 years of collaboration at Sampdoria and then Juventus.

Antonio Conte is in talks to become the new Tottenham manager and is a strong contender

Conte posted this photo onto Instagram on Wednesday with the caption: ‘It’s a nice day’

Leaving Juventus under a cloud

Departing Juventus after 11 year and 19 trophies was not easy but the drama of being exposed to the media over the Luis Suarez case meant Paratici was in a shadow.

According to newspapers Corriere della Sera and Repubblica, which published some excerpts of the minutes of the testimony of the Juventus president to the Perugia prosecutors investigating the ‘farce’ Italian language exam taken by Suarez, Agnelli would have discharged all responsibility on Paratici.

Juventus wanted to sign the Uruguayan striker but in order to gain citizenship, Suarez needed to pass a language exam. Prosecutors alleged that the contents of the test were known in advance and the result was pre-determined.

Luis Suarez arrives in Perugia for his language test that caused such controversy and led to the collapse of his transfer to Juventus 

Agnelli said: ‘I head about the examination from the newspapers. He managed everything, Paratici. I learned from Pavel Nedved that Suarez had proposed with a text message.’

Suarez ultimately moved to Atletico Madrid but the episode proved damaging to Paratici.

Criticism over Ramsey

Paratici also suffered a lot of criticism for choosing to buy Aaron Ramsey on a free after he left Arsenal.

The Welsh midfielder has never managed to play continuously and demonstrate his worth in Serie A and is costing Juventus a lot of money due to his salary of 7.5 million euros (£6.45m) a year.

Aaron Ramsey was signed on a free but his enormous salary hasn’t been justified at Juventus

A modest player

Paratici was a modest defender during his playing days but he did help the small Brindisi win the Coppa Italia Serie C towards the end of a journeyman career. He was never able to play in Serie A.

As a player he held a right-sided role, both in defence and midfield, but was used all over there place at one point or another.

After retiring, he started helping Marotta, then director general at Sampdoria, and chose to pursue a career as a sporting director.

His first assignment at Sampdoria was that of Marotta’s secretary and later as his assistant with responsibility for transfers.

But Paratici’s professional dream has always been to work with Conte again, the coach with whom he won three Scudetti in Turin, and this may become a reality in London.

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