‘Disagreements’ – Paulo Fonseca opens up on how close he was to Spurs move
Paulo Fonseca has admitted that his move to Tottenham fell through because of disagreements he had with Fabio Paratici on their footballing philosophy. Tottenham held talks with a whole host of candidates regarding the managerial vacancy before eventually deciding to appoint Nuno Espirito Santo as Jose Mourinho’s successor. Fonseca, who parted ways with Roma after a […]
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Paulo Fonseca has admitted that his move to Tottenham fell through because of disagreements he had with Fabio Paratici on their footballing philosophy.
Tottenham held talks with a whole host of candidates regarding the managerial vacancy before eventually deciding to appoint Nuno Espirito Santo as Jose Mourinho’s successor.
Fonseca, who parted ways with Roma after a disappointing seventh-place finish in the Serie A last season, was one of the candidates the North London club spoke with.
It was alleged at the start of June that Spurs held advanced talks with the former Roma boss, with a deal even being verbally agreed for the 48-year-old to sign a two-year contract with the option of a third.
However, it subsequently emerged that Tottenham decided to look elsewhere after Fabio Paratici had disagreements with Fonesca over transfer policies and found the Portuguese coach to have no clear plan regarding his backroom staff.
Fonseca has now opened up on his failed move to Spurs, insisting that Paratici did not buy into his attacking approach as much as Daniel Levy and Steve Hitchen did.
When asked about his discussions with Tottenham, the 48-year-old told Portuguese TV channel SIC (as relayed by The Telegraph): “All the details were settled.
“I was really prepared for a new adventure at Tottenham. But, with the general manager (Paratici) coming in, we had some disagreements that were difficult to overcome.
“I really want to coach the best teams, but I cannot compromise my ideas. I cannot compromise my values just to coach a big team.
“The truth is that the president (Daniel Levy) and the sporting director (Steve Hitchen) always argued that the team should be offensive, should be attractive, should be a dominant team which went in the direction of what my teams are, in essence.
“And with the entry of the new general director, things changed a little bit. They wanted to go in another direction and, obviously, it wasn’t possible to develop something I didn’t believe in.”
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It has been evident through Tottenham’s managerial chase and their summer transfer activity that Levy is happy to go along with Paratici’s decisions, even if he might disagree with them.
With hindsight, despite his free-flowing approach, Fonseca would have certainly been a more risky appointment than Nuno given his lack of Premier League experience.
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