Fabio Paratici has much to be proud of when he looks back on his time at Tottenham. The Italian co-sporting director is set to leave the club for Fiorentina at the end of the January transfer window, having hit more than miss in the transfer market.
He helped bring Antonio Conte to the club in 2021, who subsequently led his team to an impressive top-four berth, and was responsible for an array of impressive additions, many of whom contributed to Spurs' Europa League success last season.
However, we'd be foolish to suggest Paratici's work in north London was exclusively beneficial. There were oversights, too. He was far too bullish on Bryan Gil, trading Erik Lamela and a good wad of cash for the Beatle in a previous life. Moreover, on the day Micky van de Ven completed a £43m move from Wolfsburg in August 2023, Paratici, while working as a consultant in N17, was said to be "instrumental" in securing the services of unknown Argentine forward Alejo Véliz.
A £13m fee pointed towards some level of confidence on Paratici's behalf that the teenager would eventually blossom in the Premier League, or perhaps the Italian was too keen to appear one step ahead of his counterparts.
The most optimistic sought out clips from Véliz's so far brief senior career, with some thrusting "hidden gem" status upon him. However, the Argentine, as the majority projected, proved to be nothing but forgettable in Lilywhite colours. With just a single Premier League goal to his name, Véliz now looks set to move on for good.
Tottenham moving on from striker everybody forgot about
In truth, there was never a time when Véliz looked like making the grade in north London. Sure, a knee injury sustained at the start of 2024 was untimely, having scored his first goal for the club at the end of the year, but the striker simply doesn't boast the attributes to prosper at the elite level.
He's good in the air and a fairly robust focal point, but the young forward is a sub-par facilitator, underwhelming athlete and anything but a sharpshooter.
Véliz scored one La Liga goal in 33 appearances during loan spells at Sevilla and Espanyol, and scored five times back at Rosario Central during the 2025 Clausara.
South America is the best place for the striker's career to potentially bloom, and Spurs are closing in on facilitating his permanent departure. According to César Luis Merlo (via The Spurs Express on X), Brazilian club Bahia have an agreement in place to buy Véliz outright. Spurs are now working to terminate his loan with Rosario to ensure the move can go through.
It's likely that the club will only receive a small fee for his services.
Paratici took a low-risk swing and missed, but the Italian may argue that such punts are worth it in the long run. João Souza may be his doing, too, and we could soon be heralding the Brazilian left-back as the next Roberto Carlos.