‘Agreement was done’: Attack-minded boss claims he had Tottenham deal, Paratici was the problem

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Tottenham Hotspur pursued Paulo Fonseca over the summer, and he has now opened up on how his move to North London collapsed.

When Tottenham parted ways with Jose Mourinho in April, a number of potential replacements were linked.

One of them was Fonseca, who had been replaced as Roma boss by – somewhat ironically – Jose Mourinho.

The deal for Fonseca to join Tottenham looked very close, but suddenly broke down.

Tottenham ended up going for Nuno Espirito Santo instead. Fonseca is still out of management as things stand after seeing his Tottenham move collapse.

Fonseca to Tottenham timeline

Tottenham had made Fonseca their top target, but then pulled the plug and targeted Gennaro Gattuso instead.

Fonseca had made plans to join Tottenham. Coach Tiago Leal was ready to follow Fonseca to Tottenham having worked together at Shakhtar Donetsk and Roma.

Corriere Dello Sport reported that Fonseca felt ‘betrayed’ by Tottenham and specifically director of football Fabio Paratici.

Dean Jones then reported that Paratici had attempted to go back in for Fonseca, but no deal was done.

Fonseca opens up

Fonseca has now told The Telegraph that ‘the agreement was done’ for him to join Tottenham.

The Mozambique-born boss claims that he had even started planning Tottenham’s pre-season preparations.

However, Fonseca believes Paratici was the problem.

Daniel Levy and Steve Hitchen both wanted an attack-minded coach, and Fonseca was ideal for that approach.

Paratici wanted somebody more defensive, and Fonseca wouldn’t budge on his principles – leading Tottenham to appoint Nuno Espirito Santo instead.

“The agreement was done. We were planning the pre-season and Tottenham wanted an offensive coach,” said Fonseca. “It wasn’t announced but we planned pre-season players. But things changed when the new managing director arrived and we didn’t agree with some ideas and he preferred another coach.”

“I have some principles. I wanted to be coach of the great teams but I want the right project and a club where the people believe in my ideas, my way to play, and this didn’t happen with the managing director.”

“It’s what the chairman and the sporting director (Steve Hitchen) asked for. To build a team who can play attractive and offensive football and I was ready for that. I cannot be a different way. All my teams will have these intentions. In Rome or Shakhtar in the Champions League against the biggest teams, I’m not sending out my teams to defend near their own box,” he added.