What would Spurs sporting director Fabio Paratici bring to Fiorentina?

Time will tell if Fiorentina’s first league win of the season was a definitive turning point or merely a false dawn. But as the goals flowed for Paolo Vanoli’s side following the early dismissal of Udinese goalkeeper Maduka Okoye on Sunday, it was not long before the cognoscenti were hailing the first victory of the Fabio Paratici era.

Fiorentina have offered Paratici, Tottenham Hotspur’s co-sporting director alongside Johan Lange, a five-year contract to become the club’s head of technical affairs, a role that would effectively task the 53-year-old with rebuilding the Serie A strugglers from the ground up.

For Tottenham, it is an unexpected development. 

Paratici, who resigned as the club’s managing director of football in April 2023 amid allegations of financial malpractice during his time at Juventus, only returned to full-time duties in October. Spurs stood by him when he was subsequently banned, first by the Italian FA and then worldwide, and continued to use him as a consultant after he mounted a successful appeal to Fifa that allowed him to work in a more limited role.  

Reports in Italy nonetheless claim Paratici, who was expected to oversee Tottenham’s January transfer dealings, has accepted Fiorentina’s offer and is now working to secure the termination of his current contract.

Why do Fiorentina want Fabio Paratici?

It is not hard to see why the Viola might covet the services of an executive who was instrumental in bringing the likes of Dejan Kulusevski, Rodrigo Bentancur and Destiny Udogie to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. 

Those signings spoke not only to Paratici’s extensive network of contacts within Italian football and beyond, but also to his ability to identify and drive through the recruitment of key players. They were qualities greatly admired by former Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, who referred to Paratici’s “outstanding track record in assembling competitive squads” when his lengthy pursuit of the Italian culminated in success in the summer of 2021. 

Paratici previously spent 11 years at Juventus, first as head of technical affairs and later as sporting director. Over the course of his time in Turin, he masterminded the recruitment of numerous top talents, not least Cristiano Ronaldo, whose 2018 move from Real Madrid to the Allianz Stadium was, at £99.2m, the most expensive transfer in the history of Italian football.

Fiorentina’s need for that kind of pulling power could hardly be more pronounced. Daniele Pradè, the Viola’s previous sporting director, left the club by mutual consent last month, although not before publicly shouldering the blame for a summer of spending that has yet to yield success. Strikers Roberto Piccoli and Edin Dzeko have scored just one goal between them so far, while Switzerland international Simon Sohm has largely underwhelmed since his €15m arrival from Parma.

The good news for Fiorentina is that two other new faces, Moise Kean and Albert Guðmundsson, were both on target in the 5-1 victory over Genoa this weekend. The club nonetheless remains rock bottom of Serie A on nine points, five adrift of Genoa and Parma, respectively in 17th and 16th place. The hard miles lie ahead.

Why would Paratici leave Tottenham so soon after returning?

When Levy stepped down as Tottenham chairman in September, Paratici lost perhaps his closest ally at the club. It did not prevent him from accepting a return to full-time duty the following month, but it remains unclear how well he has dovetailed with fellow sporting director Lange. 

In principle, the pair’s responsibilities were sufficiently different to limit the potential for friction, with Lange focusing mainly on scouting, analytics and performance, while Paratici was tasked chiefly with transfers and loans. Yet both have a say in recruitment and, while claims of differences between the pair remain speculative, there may have been too much overlap for comfort in that all-important area.

A simpler explanation is that, after four and a half years in the Premier League, Paratici just wants to go home. He was linked with AC Milan in the summer, but the long-term opportunity to restore a club once graced by the likes of Roberto Baggio and Gabriel Batistuta to former glories may just be too powerful to resist.

Nonetheless, Tottenham have made a faltering start to life under Thomas Frank since the Dane’s summer arrival from Brentford, and it remains to be seen how ready they are to accede to Paratici’s wishes at a time when the club is in need of his experience and steadying influence in the transfer market.

The north London club could also be forgiven for feeling a little let down that a man they have stood by through a difficult period in his career appears all too willing to depart.

The coming days and weeks should reveal much.