Tottenham’s last gasp moves for Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur were panic buys caused by their struggles to do other deals in January.
That’s the opinion of agent Mario Cenolli, who says Fabio Paratici ‘had to do something’ to strengthen the squad for manager Antonio Conte.
Tottenham were expected to be busy during the January transfer window after hiring Conte, who had made it clear that the wanted new additions.
Frustration grew across the month as new faces failed to arrive, with well-known targets such as Adama Traore and Dusan Vlahovic moving elsewhere.
They eventually secured two signings on deadline day of the window, with Juventus duo Vlahovic and Bentancur arriving once Tottenham had shipped out the likes of Giovani Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele.
While they are talented players, the moves have been criticised by some, who believe Paratici has made a late dash to his former club to get the signings Conte wanted.
“Tottenham, in my opinion, had very different objectives, but they ended up with Kulusevski and Bentancur,” he told Calciomercato.it.
“They had other targets; the first was Vlahovic who didn’t come, then Adama Traore, who didn’t go either. Vlahovic already had his heart set on Juve, and nothing came of it.
“Tottenham had to do something; Paratici knows Juve and made those two moves.
“At Tottenham, I would see Kulusevski better than Bentancur, there football is box to box, without respite, and the Uruguayan is not one of those fast players who does this job.
“Then with Conte, he can grow, but between the two of them, Kulusevski will adapt more easily to English football, also considering his characteristics.”
