Paratici ‘obsessed’ with £45m Newcastle star as ex-Tottenham chief makes ‘desperate’ transfer plea
Fabio Paratici is reportedly ‘obsessed’ with Newcastle United winger Anthony Gordon after Tottenham Hotspur missed out on the Englishman.
The Italian became Tottenham’s managing director in June 2021 and he used his links with Juventus to help them sign Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur.
Paratici was forced to resign earlier this year after he became embroiled in a Capital gains investigation which resulted in him being banned for 30 months.
Despite this, it was claimed earlier this month that he ‘remains heavily involved at the club despite resigning in April’ and is still ‘pulling all the strings’ in terms of recruitment at Tottenham.
Football Insider are now reporting that the 51-year-old has an ‘obsession’ with Gordon and ‘wants him at Tottenham’.
Gordon progressed through the ranks at Everton and he was one of their standout performers in 2021/22 as he helped them avoid relegation from the Premier League.
The 22-year-old attracted interest from several Premier League sides ahead of the 2022/23 campaign and it was reported that Chelsea were willing to pay around £60m to sign him.
Gordon did not appear to be worth such a significant fee while he was simply the best of a bad bunch during the latter stages of his Everton career.
He ended up joining Newcastle for a fee of around £45m and he has made his doubters look pretty stupid this season as he has been sensational for Eddie Howe’s side.
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Gordon has four goals and two assists in ten Premier League games and Paratici was ‘very keen’ to sign him. The report adds.
‘A well-placed source has told Football Insider that Paratici was “obsessed” with Gordon and was “desperate” to bring him to Spurs.
‘The Italian has since stepped back as a Tottenham director following a worldwide 30-month ban from football after he was convicted by the Italian FA of financial malpractice.
‘Nevertheless, Paratici remains connected with Spurs and sources say he is still a “huge fan” of Gordon despite his mega-money move to Newcastle.’
After Gordon scored Newcastle’s winning goal against Arsenal last weekend, Gary Neville praised him following his “fantastic week”.
“Anthony Gordon, just after he’d been put up front [he scored],” Neville said on Sky Sports.
“He’s had a fantastic week, he was brilliant at Old Trafford at centre-forward and he gets a goal again today. He’s come to life in a black and white Newcastle shirt and this crowd really love him.
“Well done Eddie Howe, well done Newcastle. They really have performed well today, the defensive work was outstanding.”
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