Fabio Paratici has been blasted by Juventus sporting director Federico Cherubini over his deal for Tottenham Hotspur star Dejan Kulusevski.
Juventus are once again in a shambles.
It was bad enough on the pitch this season; out of the Champions League group stage with just one win to their name and nowhere near the Serie A title battle.
Form has picked up of late but now it’s matters off the field that are causing problems.
The entire Juventus board – including president Andrea Agnelli – have now resigned due to investigations into the club’s accounting over recent years.
Fabio Paratici blasted over Kulusevski deal
Others have been dragged into this drama, including Tottenham director of football Fabio Paratici.
Tottenham aren’t in any trouble but Paratici is catching some criticism over in Italy.
Federico Cherubini – Paratici’s successor as sporting director – has slammed Paratici for his transfer dealings at Juventus.
Cherubini told Gazzetta dello Sport that Paratici ‘drugged the market’ by paying over the odds for players.
Cherubini brought up a couple of examples by talking about deals for Federico Chiesa and Dejan Kulusevski.
The Juventus man called both players ‘excellent’ but felt that Paratici grossly overpaid for both players.
Cherubini highlighted that Kulusevski was very inexperienced when Paratici agreed to sign him for €44million (£38million) for him.
Kulusevski went on to struggle at Tottenham before Paratici secured a deal to bring him to Tottenham.
The total deal with Spurs is worth around €45million according to Fabrizio Romano, so Juventus are getting most of their money back after sell-on clauses.
Additionally, if you asked Tottenham fans just how much Kulusevski is really worth, they would almost certainly say it’s much more than £38million.
The fact is that Antonio Conte is getting more out of Kulusevski than Massimiliano Allegri ever did and Tottenham are reaping the rewards.
That won’t change Cherubini’s mind as he suggested that Paratici’s spending in the transfer market was ‘dangerous’ and put Juventus in trouble – but no mention of the deal for Cristiano Ronaldo, which cost huge wages and brought little reward in Europe.
“Fabio drugged the transfer market,” said Cherubini. “That is, even Kulusevski or Chiesa, who are excellent players, but when we bought them we paid them too much. Kulusevski had spent five months in Serie A and we paid €35million plus €9million bonus: it’s €44million.”
“If Fabio woke up in the morning and he had a headache or drank a glass, he could sign €20 million without telling anyone. He was dangerous,” he added.
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