Tottenham Hotspur managing director of football Fabio Paratici has been speaking about the club’s decision to part company with Matt Doherty as part of their business on deadline day.
Doherty had only started seven Premier League games this season and was the subject of a brutally honest assessment by Antonio Conte in October when the Italian admitted he was not seeing the defender in the “right way” to start every game (SportBible).
Football.London journalist Alasdair Gold revealed there was surprise among the Tottenham dressing room when they learned that the Republic of Ireland international would be leaving the club on a permanent basis.
Doherty has joined the Spanish giants on a short-term contract until the end of the season after Spurs agreed to mutually terminate the 31-year-old’s contract which came due to FIFA rules, which only allow clubs to send out eight players on loan in a season.
Harry Winks, Tanguy Ndombele, Bryan Gil, Joe Rodon, Sergio Reguilon, Giovani Lo Celso, Destiny Udogie and Djed Spence had already left Spurs on a temporary basis, meaning Doherty was also unable to head out on loan.
With Spurs closing in on signing Pedro Porro from Sporting Lisbon, news came through that Doherty was heading to La Liga.
In an interview with SpursPlay, Paratici said (04:46): ““So first of all, I want to thank Doc because he has been an important player for us and he’s a super guy, and so this is my first thought about him.
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“Then, I repeat… there is a balance between the squad, the number of players in the squad and the number of players in some positions and when we get this kind of opportunity, Atletico Madrid is a big club, it’s a big opportunity for him so I think it’s right to everyone to get this kind of choice.”
Doherty made 71 appearances in all competitions for Spurs, scoring three goals since arriving from Wolves in August 2020 for around £14.7million (Guardian).
SpursWeb Opinion
It would have been nice to hear Paratici referring to the fact that the club had reached their loan limit, rather than talking about how it is a big opportunity for Doherty to go and play for Atletico.
Some fans would still have preferred to have seen Emerson Royal heading out of the club, given Doherty’s ability to also play on the left-hand side of defence when called upon.
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