Tottenham Hotspur were one of the more active Premier League sides in the transfer window this summer, with Fabio Paratici adding no less than seven new faces to Antonio Conte’s first team squad, in addition to making Cristian Romero’s loan deal a £42.5m permanent move.
However, despite the Spurs sporting director splashing a considerable fee – believed to be in the region of £20m including add-ons – in order to seal a deal for Udinese wing-back Destiny Udogie, the club subsequently allowed the 19-year-old to rejoin the Serie A side on loan until the end of the 2022/23 campaign.
And, judging by his performances for Le Zebrette so far this season, Paratici’s capture of the Italy U21 international – as well as his decision to send the defender back to Udinese until the end of the season – very much looks to have been yet another masterclass by the 50-year-old Italian.
Indeed, over his four Serie A appearances this term, the £26m-rated wing-back has been in breathtaking form for Andrea Sottil’s side, having already scored two goals, as well as making an average of 3.3 tackles, 0.8 key passes, 0.8 interceptions and winning 6.8 duels per game – proving the youngster’s efficiency at the back, with the ball at his feet and in the final third.
These returns have seen the teenager who Josh Bunting dubbed an “incredible talent” average a simply sensational SofaScore match rating of 7.28, not only ranking him as Udinese’s second-best performer in the league but also as the joint 22nd-best player in the Italian top flight as a whole.
Furthermore, the youngster’s strength in the tackle and ability going forwards would very much appear to make him something of a perfect fit for Conte’s wing-back role – an opinion that Adam Smithy clearly agrees with, with the presenter stating his belief in a recent post on Twitter that Udogie is a “serious talent who is tailor-made for Conte’s system“.
Do you think Udogie is more promising than Sessegnon?
That all comes off the back of a remarkable run of form in which the wing-back has scored five goals and assisted three strikes in his last 10 outings from the left-hand side of the pitch.
As such, considering his suitability for Tottenham’s setup, his £20m price tag being considerably lower than his current market valuation and his undoubted potential for exponential growth in the future, it very much appears as if Paratici’s capture of the Italian sensation is the latest in the sporting director’s long-line of transfer masterclasses.
