Key Tottenham detail revealed as Fabio Paratici's worldwide ban nears end

Telegraph

4 hours ago

Fabio Paratici has a consultancy contract with Tottenham Hotspur that runs to the end of August, meaning the club are under no pressure to hand him a new staff role despite the fact his worldwide ban is nearing an end.
New head coach Thomas Frank did not mention Paratici, who can apply for British citizenship next summer, when discussing the people he anticipated working closely alongside at Tottenham in his first interview as head coach last week.
Frank picked out chairman Daniel Levy, chief executive Vinai Venkatesham and technical director Johan Lange, but Telegraph Sport understands that Paratici will continue to play an active role under the terms of his consultancy contract.
Paratici resigned from his job as managing director of football in April 2023 after being banned from working within football for his role in alleged false accounting at his former club Juventus, although that has not stopped him acting as a contracted consultant for Tottenham.
Paratici's worldwide football ban is due to expire on July 20, but Spurs do not immediately need to decide on a staff position for him given his contract as a consultant is understood to run to the end of August, with the summer transfer window shutting on Sep 1.
There remains a possibility that Paratici will eventually return to a full-time role. He could alternatively extend his consultancy contract and there is confidence that a civil trial he is part of will not affect a decision either way.
Lange survived the Tottenham cull that saw former head coach Ange Postecoglou and three members of his staff sacked, along with chief football officer Scott Munn, and the Dane was vital in the appointment of Frank who he is an old friend and colleague of.
Despite the appointment of Lange in October 2023, Paratici has remained an active and visible figure around Tottenham with the Italian attending games.
Paratici is understood to be keen to make a swift return to a full-time job in football once his ban ends and is thought to have prioritised staying in England over moving back to Italy or heading to Saudi Arabia.
The 52-year-old can apply for British citizenship from June next year. It remains to be seen whether the long-term destination of Paratici has a bearing on the future of his 16-year-old son Lorenzo, who is a highly-rated youth footballer currently at Sampdoria.
Referencing his working relationship with Levy, Venkatesham and Lange, Frank said: 'Of course, it's not just me. I think it's very important to say 'yes, the head coach is an important person', but if I don't have good people around me, it's impossible. You can't do anything alone, in my opinion.
'If you want to do something quick, you can go alone. If you want to do something big or achieve something big, you go together. So, it's definitely about doing things together – me, the staff, the players.
'I think alignment is key – from top to bottom. Of course it starts from Daniel, Vinai, Johan, and me – and the more the four of us can be aligned, just like a unit, an unbreakable unit, the stronger we'll be.
'There'll be ups and downs – right now, it's a fairytale. Everyone's happy, the sun is shining, it's fantastic.
'We haven't played one game yet. Hopefully we'll win a lot. We'll work very hard every single day to make sure we create as many magic moments for the fans and put them together and at the end of the season we'll have had a very good season.'