Duncan Castles has been speaking on The Transfer Window podcast about what Fabio Paratici promised Antonio Conte to convince him to join Tottenham Hotspur.
It was a whirlwind two days for Spurs fans, who saw the club pull the trigger and fire Nuno Espirito Santo after winning just five games in the Premier League all season and failed to register a shot on target against Manchester United.
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This was then followed by the appointment of serial winner Antonio Conte, who reportedly rejected them over the summer, but is now in north London and looking to instil a winning mentality within the club, according to journalist Sami Mokbel, despite Spurs having not won a piece of silverware since 2008.
Given Conte has won the league in each of his previous three clubs and how far Spurs are away from the top of the Premier League, it may well have taken a good amount of convincing from his fellow countryman Paratici to get him in the dugout.
Castles has revealed what Paratici had to promise Conte to get him at Spurs.
“Conte has this ambition to win the Champions League. I’m told he’s been made big promises by Paratici, so there was obviously a massive financial incentive to come – I haven’t got the exact figure yet regarding that number, but I’m told it is in the region of the money he was given at Inter which was €12 million net, so a huge contract in Premier League terms.
“So Paratici has made him very big promises about what they will do and the kind of team they’re going to build. I think that the plan is to stabilise this season; if you can, get a Champions League place; and then we will put a lot of money into the market to build a team that can win the Champions League.”
TIF Thoughts on Conte at Spurs…
This is now Tottenham’s second former Chelsea manager in their last three permanent appointments after Jose Mourinho, but with the interest there was in Conte from mega-rich Newcastle United, Paratici and Spurs have certainly pulled off a major coup to get him at the club.
Conte doesn’t just arrive with a winner’s mentality, but he has been there and done it in England, so he’s got a ready-made winning formula, that if the players are willing to buy into, could bring about success, although this may hinge massively on how much money Daniel Levy is willing to relinquish.
In other news: ‘Been waiting for this moment’, ‘We’re winning it all’ – Many Spurs fans erupt over Romano news