The three main reasons Paratici changed his mind about hiring Paulo Fonseca – report

Tottenham finally have a new head coach, but getting here wasn’t easy.

A lengthy report by The Athletic shows just how many stumbling blocks there were on the journey to hiring Nuno Espirito Santo.

One of the most interesting passages in the story concerns Paulo Fonseca, who was close to taking the Spurs job last month before a deal fell through.

And The Athletic claims there were three main reasons Fabio Paratici, Tottenham’s new director of football, changes his mind about Fonseca.

First of all, Paratici and Fonseca could not come to an agreement on transfer policy, which is obviously a key issue during a summer in which Spurs need to make plenty of personnel changes.

Secondly, there was a problem with the backroom staff situation – presumably Tottenham would not let Fonseca bring in his preferred team, or the club had their own ideas Fonseca disagreed with.

And last of all, Fonseca himself thought Levy’s desire for attacking football clashed with Paratici’s wish to strengthen the team’s defence (you’d think the two could work in tandem, but there you go).

All of which points to complete mess Spurs made of eventually hiring a new manager, even if Nuno might turn out to be a good appointment.