Wednesday 26 November 2014 21:00, UK
Tottenham have confirmed the appointment of Paul Mitchell as their new Head of Recruitment and Analysis.
The 33-year-old former Wigan and MK Dons player has moved to White Hart Lane after resigning from a similar role with Southampton.
Spurs have undergone a widespread review of their player recruitment methods in recent 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 place in the Premier League under new boss Ronald Koeman.
Tottenham have therefore lured Mitchell, who joined Southampton from MK Dons in 2012 and is highly-regarded in the game, to join them in a similar capacity.
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.
Koeman has remained unfazed by Mitchell's exit, claiming the club will continue to be proud of rivals coveting both staff and players at St Mary's.
"It is a compliment for us that Tottenham are not just trying to buy football players, they are also trying to buy our scouts," said the Dutchman.
"That is a compliment for us because that means maybe we have a better structure than they have. For the last few years Southampton has had a good structure.
"There is a strong academy, good young players, a technical director in Les Reed who has the club's long term interests at heart - that is the quality of the club.
"It is a good structure and it is a pleasure to work in that.
"We will bring in a good person to continue our philosophy and good luck to Paul at Tottenham."
