Monday 17 November 2014 19:05, UK
Southampton’s head of recruitment Paul Mitchell has handed in his resignation and is set to take up a similar role at Tottenham, according to Sky Sources.
Mitchell, a 33-year-old former Wigan and MK Dons player, has been lined-up to head a major scouting restructure at Spurs following another indifferent start to a Premier League season.
Spurs have undergone a widespread review of their player recruitment methods over the last few weeks, having spent over £100million on several big-names in the summer of 2013, most of whom have failed to produce their best.
Southampton, meanwhile, have barely been affected by the departure of a number of their best players in the summer, with Mitchell bringing in talent from across Europe that has helped fire the Saints to second in the division under new boss Ronald Koeman.
Tottenham have therefore lured Mitchell, who joined Southampton in 2012 and is highly-regarded in the game, to join them in a similar capacity, but it is not yet known whether current sporting director Franco Baldini’s role will change.
At Southampton, Mitchell spent much of his time in Europe watching and identifying new players before submitting his findings and discussing targets with the club’s hierarchy and the manager, which was previously Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino, with whom he is close.
Mitchell is considered a good man-manager, working well with his select team of scouts and delegating his staff accordingly, as well as leading an analysis team that monitors the progress of the club’s current players.
He is expected to set up a similar scouting and analysis structure at Tottenham – a club recently criticised by former sporting director Damien Comolli for being far behind other clubs in these areas.
