Fabio Paratici explains why Tottenham signed Pedro Porro

By Shamanth Jayaram

Tottenham Hotspur’s director of football Fabio Paratici has explained why Spurs decided to sign Pedro Porro from Sporting Lisbon in January.

The North Londoners were desperate for a new right-wing-back last month. Emerson Royal and Matt Doherty – who is now an Atletico Madrid player – were not at the level Antonio Conte demanded, and Paratici was tasked with the job of finding an upgrade.

Porro became his top target, and he got the deal done in the end.

Fabio Paratici says new Tottenham signing Pedro Porro is explosive

The January transfer window was a bit of a rollercoaster for Tottenham fans.

Pedro Porro was their top target from the very start of the window, but negotiations dragged on and on. After a deal looked sealed last week, reports emerged that the move was off because Sporting changed the terms.

Paratici then got back in contact with the Portuguese club and completed the deal. Porro was officially announced as a new Tottenham player on deadline day, and the Spurs director has now explained the thought process behind signing him.

He told Spurs’ official website: “Pedro Porro, first of all, he is an international player who in the last two or three seasons played in European competition, played national team for Spain, so he is a player that has different skills that we didn’t have before.

“He has a lot of quality, he is explosive so we are very, very happy and excited to sign him. We were following him even in the last summer but we couldn’t buy him so we followed and then were lucky that he played against us so we could see him.

“He played very well against us so we continued to follow and I’m thankful to everyone in this club that worked hard about (making) this signing happen. It’s really, really appreciated, the effort of the club and Daniel (Levy) and all the staff that worked hard to get Porro done.”

TBR View:

Porro really is a fantastic signing for Spurs.

The North Londoners had to increase the quality at right-wing-back. Doherty and Emerson are not bad players, but they were just not on the level required to deliver the goods for a Conte side.

Porro, 23, will likely solve what has been a problem position for Tottenham. He’ll provide a much better balance between attack and defence, and his quality with and without possession is excellent too.

Tottenham take on Manchester City this weekend and Porro is expected to make his debut then.