What a turnaround it has been for Tottenham, since Antonio Conte's arrival last November. The Italian has helped individual players go from strength to strength and improved the team overall, both on and off the pitch.
Conte helped his Spurs side to a fourth place finish in the 20221/22 campaign, meaning a return to Champions League football for the upcoming season. There were some up and down results after the 52-year-old's arrival, but pre-season has shown that there is no messing about.
On the pitch, the Italian has been giving a large number of his squad game time, including players returning from loans and new arrivals. Conte has been working his players hard in training and they have won two and drawn one of their three pre-season friendlies so far, with one more to go on Saturday, against Roma.
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Off the pitch, the transfer business that has been done since the Italian's arrival has also been refreshing for fans to see. In the January window, Tottenham seemed to stick to their usual tactics of leaving deals to be completed until the final days of the window. It did pay off, with Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur making the move from Juventus and the immediate impact they made was a major boost for Spurs. Things have only got better during the summer window too.
Not only have the Lilywhites welcomed six new arrivals to the squad, the deals have all come early in the window. This means that they will all have plenty of time to settle in to life at their new club, with new teammates and a new manager to work under.
All six players have already made their debuts in a Tottenham shirt, during pre-season, as Conte assesses his side and the set-up that will work best next season. "Tottenham have surprised me in this window, in all honesty," former Spurs man Paul Robinson, told Football Insider.
"They have done fantastic business and they have done it early. You can see that Antonio Conte is having an influence. He wants his players together for pre-season. He wants them together early. The squad is already quality. It is a squad more than capable of going into next season and challenging," he added.
Of course, the Italian deserves heaps of praise for the influence he has already had on the Spurs side, but the man behind the scenes who is working just as hard, is Fabio Paratici. The 50-year-old was appointed as Tottenham's Managing Director of Football last summer, after spending more than a decade at Juventus.
The Italian originally had to work with Nuno Espirito Santo, trying to bring in players to build his squad. However, things looked much more positive when Paratici was reunited with Conte.
Spurs' latest signing, Djed Spence, is a clear indication of the relationship the duo have and the work they do during the transfer window. Paratici had been watching the youngster closely, before making a decision on targeting him for a move to N17.
Conte admitted to football.london during the pre-season tour in South Korea that the former Middlesbrough man was someone the club wanted, but he had okayed the move, due to the defender's potential. Paratici is known as someone who will have a number of targets and have his eye on players across the world, before making a real move on someone.
Of course this would then be discussed with the Spurs boss and for that, they need a strong relationship and be able to trust one another. This seems to be something that is important to Conte, which was highlighted during his time at Chelsea.
The Italian led the Blues to the Premier League title in his first full season in charge. However, the season after that (17/18), Chelsea finished in fifth. During his time in the capital, Conte transformed a number of players and got the best out of the likes of Victor Moses, Cesar Azpilecuta and Eden Hazard. However the second season saw others dip in form, as well as the departure of sporting director Michael Emenalo.
The 57-year-old spent several years at Chelsea, as part of the scouting team and overseeing the academy. During an interview in 2018, Conte revealed that Emenalo's departure in November 2017, had an impact on his second season in charge.
"To lose Michael was a big loss for us, Michael did a great job for this club for many years. Last season he helped me a lot during the season," the now Spurs boss admitted. "This season until he stayed here he helped me a lot. For sure it was a big loss.
"When you’re manager it’s normal a lot of time to transfer your emotion in your house with your family. I’m very lucky to have a person very close to me that helps me in every moment, in a positive moment, in a negative moment, to face the situation in the best possible way."
Emenalo's exit was clearly a tough time for Conte and it shows just how much he valued the Nigerian's input at the club. This is likely to be a similar impact to the one Paratici is having, even if it isn't seen as much by fans.
The success from the transfer window already shows that the 52-year-old is being backed by those above him and without a positive relationship with Paratici, it may have made those deals much harder to complete. Therefore, Conte deserves all the credit he gets, but the Managing Director of Football also deserves a lot of praise.
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