Juventus winger Dejan Kulusevski has not yet officially signed for Tottenham, but he might have already made a blunder.
Kulusevski is poised to join Spurs on transfer deadline after Fabio Paratici lined up a double-swoop from his former club for the Swedish international and Rodrigo Bentancur.
Tottenham have endured a frustrating transfer window, with targets coming and going throughout the month.
Antonio Conte’s side have missed out on Wolves star Adama Traore, who chose to join Barcelona on loan, and Porto winger Luis Diaz, who moved to Liverpool for an initial £37.5million.
After much frustration, it seems as though Paratici is on the brink of making two significant moves by raiding his former club Juventus.
Kulusevski was pictured last night getting into a plane to fly to London on Sunday night, but what he said to reporters will not go down well with Conte.
“I had a very good time at Juventus,” he said. “I hope one day to return.”
On the one hand, that is an understandable statement from the 21-year-old forward, who is only joining Spurs on an initial loan deal until the end of the season.
He may therefore end up back in Turin this summer, considering he has a contract with Juve until June 2025.
But Tottenham have an option in the loan deal which will allow them to sign Kulusevski permanently for around £33m.
If he is a success in north London then that is a distinct possibility, given that Kulusevski has fallen out of favour under boss Max Allegri this campaign.
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Kulusevski joined Juve in 2020 from Atalanta, having starred as a teenager on loan at Parma, but has struggled with consistency this season.
He will at least have a familiar face alongside him at Tottenham, with central midfielder Bentancur set to join alongside him for a fee of £20m.
While Conte knows both players, having previously managed Juventus, it is Paratici who is most familiar with the duo, having spent a decade overseeing recruitment at the Italian giants.
The Spurs recruitment chief oversaw the deals that took Kulusevski and Bentancur to Juve from Atalanta and Boca Juniors respectively and will be confident they can make an impact in the Premier League.
Kulusevski made 35 Serie A appearances and contributed four goals and three assists in his debut season with Juventus.
But failed to carry that momentum into this campaign, with just two goals and three assists in 27 games so far in the 2021/22 season.
He has mainly been used off the bench by Allegri, starting just seven times in all competitions.
