After manager Antonio Conte had been handed a £150m war chest at the start of the summer to make Tottenham competitive at the top of the Premier League again, the club made a sharp start to their summer, signing Ivan Perisic and Yves Bissouma.
Richarlison and Djed Spence were to follow, leaving Paratici’s trip to Milan as a chance to tie up some loose ends. So far, though, that does not seem to be happening.
Conte chasing old flame Nicolo Zaniolo
Antonio Conte said pointedly that Djed Spence was a great “club signing” but attempts to nail down a more personal acquisition for the Spurs boss have made little headway.
Even when he was in charge at Inter, Conte was keen on Nicolo Zaniolo, old only to be told, ‘no’ by Roma. The one encouragement this time is that Roma would rather sell to an outsider club than one of their Serie A rivals - and ideally Jose Mourinho would like to keep him for one more season at the club.
Spurs are prepared to offer £21.3m plus Joe Rodon for the 23-year-old, with negotiations set to rumble along until the two teams play each other in a friendly on July 31.
Doubts over success of Tanganga sale
AC Milan are leaving nothing to chance in talks with Paratici over Japhet Tanganga and are already reported to be lining up an alternative if the deal breaks down.
At present, the sticking point seems to be whether to make a permanent transfer an option or an obligation after a season-long loan deal for the 23-year-old. As a result, La Gazzetta dello Sport say that Even N’Dicka of Eintracht Frankfurt is already being lined up as an alternative should agreement on Tanganga prove impossible.
His signing would be a much more straightforward £17m cash deal, with a strong relationship already established between two clubs that have seen three players switch between them already this summer.
Parrott chased by Black Cats
While Paratici is in Italy, moves have continued on the home front to trim the squad further and according to iNews, Sunderland have made a bid for Troy Parrott.
The striker has impressed in the reserve team at Tottenham and did well as a no. 10 at MK Dons last season. Now they are looking to loan him out again for a regular run-out as a no. 9 to see if he can make the transition to the very top level.
The 20-year-old told Football.London last week that he is learning a lot about what Conte expects of forwards in his system during this current pre-season. But the Spurs hierarchy feels that without match practice somewhere he will fail to find that necessary sharpness.
