Tottenham boss Antonio Conte revealed his current managing director of football Fabio Paratici tried to sign Romelu Lukaku at Juventus just to stop Conte getting him at Inter Milan.
Lukaku moved to the San Siro from Manchester United in 2019 for 80million euros (£66m), shortly after Paratici had tried to hijack the transfer.
The pair have been reunited at Spurs, having also worked together at Juve, where Conte delivered three Serie A titles.
Conte disclosed that Paratici also blocked a move from Juventus to Inter Milan from Dejan Kulusevski.
“I asked for (Kulusevski) when I was at Inter from Juventus,” Conte said.
“I opened the idea with Paratici. But he opened the idea to cut (me out of the deal), not to reinforce Juventus, you understand, but to only to damage myself!
“Because in the transfer market, there is a strategy. He tried also with Lukaku, Paratici – to buy Lukaku for Juventus because he knew very well that I like him and wanted him in my team.
“It was the same for Kulusevski. But at that time, maybe Juventus were stronger than us in the transfer market.”
Paratici’s blocking of the deal for the Sweden international has since worked out in Conte’s favour after he joined Spurs in the January transfer window.
He impressed on his full debut in Saturday’s 3-2 win at Manchester City, scoring the opening goal and assisting the last-minute winner by Harry Kane.
Conte said: “Kulusevki is a young player, 21 years old. But when you go to sign players here in England, you have to check many aspects.
“I continue to repeat this, because this is the top league and it’s very difficult to play. It’s not for all this league.
“If you play in this league, you can play in every league. But it doesn’t mean if you play in another league, you can come here to play. I think we have to pay great attention (to signings).
“(Rodrigo) Bentancur and Kulusevski are two good signings, two good prospects for the philosophy of the club, two good players to develop – but (also) players that are ready now, ready to play and to help us.”
