Tottenham Hotspur are set to welcome a new addition to its staff in the form of Rob MacKenzie, the former recruitment director for Aston Villa.
MacKenzie is expected to join the club as their new chief scout next week, according to various reports today including Telegraph’s Matt Law.
He tweeted:
Rob Mackenzie has left Aston Villa and will join Tottenham as chief scout next week – linking back up with Johan Lange, who has made the same move. Mackenzie has worked at Tottenham before in the past
Johan Lange, who began his new position as technical director at Tottenham earlier today, will be reunited with him.
The choice to bring in MacKenzie and Lange is indicative of the club’s continuing transformation since manager Ange Postecoglou joined in the summer.
After spending eighteen months at Tottenham earlier in his career, MacKenzie’s return is viewed as a major step in improving the club’s recruitment and scouting capabilities.
Spurs supporters are feeling more optimistic now that the team is sitting atop the Premier League table, thanks to recent changes and appointments that have only been good.
Both these changes and the reported shift toward allowing new recruits to thrive in their roles without much direction from Chairman Daniel Levy give reason for confidence for the club’s future.
Tottenham is now unbeaten in the league and has a two-point advantage over arch rivals Arsenal. They are also five points ahead of Manchester City.
One important window that can impact Spurs’ chances of competing for the championship is the January transfer window.
Because of the latest appointments, they will likewise be overburdened.
In a related development:
The most recent information on Santiago Gimenez, a transfer target for Tottenham, has been revealed by transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano.
Because of his recent performances, Gimenez has drawn interest from some of the best clubs in Europe, including Real Madrid, Dortmund, Inter, and Tottenham.
Since joining the Dutch team last summer, the Mexican international has made 54 appearances, contributing 6 assists and 38 goals.
He assisted three goals and scored fifteen goals in his Feyenoord first season. In just 8 games this season, he already has 12 goals and 2 assists.
The Mexican’s status has now been updated by Fabrizio Romano, who also confirmed that Tottenham “appreciates” him by sending scouts to watch him play recently.
He asserted that although there haven’t been any talks yet, the club is still keeping an eye on the player.
Romano added that although no talks are taking place, some industry sources have estimated Gimenez’s price tag to be between €45 and €50 million.
He wrote the following for Caughtoffside’s Daily Briefing:
“I think it’s going to be an interesting situation for Santiago Gimenez – we’ve heard stories about Tottenham and Real Madrid in recent weeks after an intermediary spoke about the situation, but the player has since clarified that it is only his father taking care of his future. No agent, no intermediary, the only person taking care of his future is his father.”
“From what I’m hearing, it’s true that Tottenham appreciate the player, and they’ve sent their scouts to follow him recently, though they also had people monitoring Feyenoord last season as they were interested in the manager Arne Slot.”
“He was a candidate to be Tottenham manager before they went for Ange Postecoglou, but for sure they’re continuing to monitor Gimenez now as well, though there are many other clubs also interested in the player.”
“At the moment there is no negotiation, so it’s too early to say where he could be going, but in my opinion it seems likely that it would take something like €45-50m to sign him – this is not something from inside the club, but some sources inside the industry believe that could be the price tag.”
Feyenoord, however, is said to have vetoed any possible transfer for the forthcoming January window, therefore talks regarding a move will have to wait until the summer of the following year.
Tottenham would be making a big show of intent if they were to sign the 22-year-old Mexican striker, especially if they could beat out many elite teams who were bidding for him.
Gimenez is a highly sought-after player in European football due to his remarkable goal-scoring record and performances; hence, potential suitors will probably be quite interested in knowing where he will end up.
