Tottenham broke their 17-year-long curse by winning the UEFA Europa League under Ange Postecoglou. While their success has some obvious Serie A background, Fabio Paratici is a key reason behind the success.
It is obvious that Tottenham arenโt having the greatest Premier League season as they are rooted to 17th in the table and the silverware win is just a bit of a distraction from the larger problems under the Australian. But is also fair to say that the issues are structural, system-based or related to squad depth.
Despite poor performances, a host of Tottenham players have improved and Postecoglou deserves for that and Paratici provided him with the right tools before his suspension and that was on show in the 2023/24 season.
About nine of the 11 players who started for Tottenham against Manchester United on Wednesday had been roped in by Paratici and some include ex-Serie A players like Cristian Romero, Destiny Udogie, Guglielmo Vicario and Rodrigo Bentancur.
All of them โ to different degrees, have been successes. Udogie has gone from being a teenager at Udinese to a complete full-back who is providing stiff competition to Federico Dimarco at the left-back spot. Under Postecoglou, he has also matured as a player who can invert into midfield and playing in a high-tempo setup has brought the most out of him ability to run up and down the pitch. That was on show against United on Wednesday.
Bentancur had been struggling at Juventus in his last two seasons and had become a player who was losing his identity. There remained under question marks during his time under Antonio Conte but he has shown glimpses of fulfilling his potential under Postecoglou, often marauding forwardย in attack.
Vicario is perhaps the most defining example. The Italian was facing doubts about his ability on the ball during his time at Empoli. Weeks into his time at Tottenham, Postecoglou did wonders to improve his ability on the ball. More than that, he has become a leader between the sticks. Yesterday was the first piece of silverware he has ever won in his career.
Romero is simply fulfilling his potential and then there is the case of Dejan Kulusevski, who has arguably been Tottenhamโs best player in the campaign. Under Postecoglou, he has found the number ten as his preferred position once again and is showing that he arguably one of the best players in the Premier League.
Pape Sarr is another example, considering how Tottenham signed him under Paratici when he was only a teenager and wasnโt a direct shoe fix to any problems. He had to be slowly eased in and under Postecoglou, he has thrived whenever called upon and has also scored crucial goals.ย
The Australian has a very impressive track record of improving players and he had done quite the same at Celtic. But he has also been handed the right tools by Paratici, who himself has shut up critics after a spell at Juventus that is now looked at quite negatively by fans.
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Kaustubh Pandey I GIFN
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