Fabio Paratici could turn to his former club in an attempt to bolster Tottenham Hotspur's playing squad this winter...
What's the word?
According to Italian outlet Calciomercato, Spurs are plotting a double swoop on Serie A giants Juventus for attacking midfielder Dejan Kulusevski and centre-back Matthijs de Ligt.
The 31-time Dutch international is likely to cost the bulk of the deal, with a fee in the region of €100m (£86m) mooted by the report.
Paratici signed the young 22-year-old colossus from Ajax in a £70m deal during summer 2019 and he has since evolved into one of the standout performers in Turin.
Paratici masterclass
If the Italian supremo can secure his former signing in north London, then it would be one outstanding and a major coup for Spurs.
De Ligt was an absolute rock for Juventus last season, displaying incredible defensive attributes that makes him one of the best emerging talents in the game.
As per WhoScored, he averaged 1.4 tackles, 1.1 interceptions and 2.1 aerial duels won per game, proving that he has an impressive ability to read the game and act, on top of his evident physical attributes.
He was just as good with the ball at his feet, as expected in the modern-day. Despite averaging a whopping 63.9 passes each outing, he still managed to keep his accuracy rate at 92.5%.
This is a stark improvement on Eric Dier, who started out life as a midfielder. His ball-playing qualities should be up there with the best but quite frankly, de Ligt's returns show that he would be a massive, massive upgrade in N17.
The Englishman has started every single Premier League game under Nuno Santo this season but has managed a disappointing 83.9% passing accuracy, whilst he is yet to even record a tackle and merely averages 0.8 interceptions per match, also via WhoScored.
De Ligt has previously been dubbed an "absolute monster" by Italian football expert and broadcaster Carlo Garganese, whilst his agent, Mino Raiola once claimed: "Matthijs is like an oil tanker, you can’t expect him to suddenly turn 90 degrees. He goes steadily. But, once he’s on course, he can’t be stopped."
On the above evidence, Paratici could quite easily transform Spurs' defence in one fell swoop for the Dutch beast. He's clearly way better than someone like Dier, at such a younger age too.
It will be a very hard transfer to make but if the Italian pulls it off, it has to be regarded as one of the biggest-ever signings in north London - that's for sure.
AND in other news, Forget Graham Potter: Spurs not hiring "exciting" 51 y/o over Nuno was Levy's biggest mistake...