Former Roma coach, Paulo Fonseca has revealed that his negotiation with Tottenham Hotspur to replace Jose Mourinho collapsed because the club’s new managing director Fabio Paratici did not agree with his style of football.
According to the 48-year-old Portuguese football tactician, he wanted to play an offensive style of football and the club’s chairman Daniel Levy and the sporting director Steve Hitchen had agreed to it.
He also revealed that Tottenham Hotspur had offered him a two-year deal (verbally) and they have started planning for the pre-season ahead of the 2021-2022 season before Paratici arrived.
Few days after his arrival when most Tottenham Hotspur fans were waiting for the announcement of a new coach, Paratici decided to pull Tottenham Hotspur out of the deal between the club and Paulo Fonseca.
Recall that when Tottenham Hotspur sacked Jose Mourinho in April 2021, few days before the FA Cup final between Spurs and Manchester City, the club searched for his replacement for months.
Before Paulo Fonseca came into the picture, Tottenham Hotspur tried to bring in former Inter Milan coach Antonio Conte and the current coach of Paris Saint Germain Mauricio Pochettino but the negotiations collapsed.
When it was looking like the club was waiting for too long without a coach, Tottenham approached Paulo Fonseca who was just sacked by Roma then.
When his deal with the club collapsed, the club’s new director tried to bring in former Napoli coach Gennaro Gattuso but the deal also collapsed.
After a long wait, Tottenham decided to settle for former Wolves coach Nuno Espirito Santo who has led Spurs to three wins and two defeats so far in the Premier League.
The Portuguese coach suffered two successive defeats in the club’s last two Premier League games away against Crystal Palace and home against Chelsea.
Ahead of the Spurs Premier League game against their local rivals, Arsenal which will kick off at the Emirates Stadium at 16:30 on Sunday, September 26, Paulo Fonseca told Telegraph Sport that he didn’t take Spurs job because he was not ready to defend against big teams.
“The agreement was done. We were planning the pre-season and Tottenham wanted an offensive coach”, he said. “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 the 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 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. Against the biggest teams, I’m not sending out my teams to defend near their box.”
Tottenham Hotspur are currently sitting on the 7th spot on the league table with 9 points in 5 games, four points away from first-placed Chelsea.
A win over Arsenal on Sunday could take them as far as 4th spot pending the outcome of other league games this weekend.
