Opinion: The three sporting directors who should be on Daniel Levy’s radar to revive Spurs

It’s no lie that our recruitment setup has been very disappointing in recent times and under Mauricio Pochettino, some of the purchases made have been nothing short of poor. Clinton N’Jie, Roberto Soldado, Vincent Janssen, Georges-Kevin N’Koudou… My eyes hurt whenever I look at how we spent the Gareth Bale money as well. Only two of those really gave us anything, and only one remains in North London, Erik Lamela who polarises opinion amongst our fanbase massively!

What does a sporting director do, and why would it benefit us? Well, it is not just typically strong recruitment and getting those deals done with a solid network with different agents and clubs (although that’s what we need) but it’s about the philosophy, implementing that into the academy set-up and creating a solid structure throughout the club ensuring everything is done in the right way.

Before we start, there is a slight misconception about why Daniel Levy would hire a sporting director without the money? These guys are experts at doing business with any financial difficulty or budget. That’s what this is all about.

So, let’s get into 3 sporting directors that I believe Spurs should have on their radar:

Luis Campos

Sky Sports previously reported in November that Luis Campos would be open to joining Spurs, and no better man to do it in the game right now. He has proven to have got the job done at many different financially able clubs.

It’s an absolute must that we get this guy in, the fact he has that chemistry and experience of working Jose already would be such a plus. His network of bargains that he has executed over the years will definitely be attractive to Daniel Levy, including these impressive examples (Sky Sports):

Ralf Rangnick

As a result of former Spurs man Paul Mitchell joining RB Leipzig as head of recruitment, Ragnick slightly changed his role to that of a sporting and development coach, but his CV remains second to none.

Rangnick is a big advocate of his policy of the three K’s – Kapital, Konzept and Kompetenz (money, concept and competence) (Bundesliga) something which has worked especially at Leipzig, spending a healthy amount but very also very wisely which is what Spurs have lacked.

We fail to recruit at the right places at the right time. Here are some examples of his purchases over the years (transfermarkt):

Gylfi Sigurdsson – £4.68m

Roberto Firmino – £3.60m

Christian Fuchs – £3.42m

Marcel Halstenberg – £3.15m

Willi Orban – £1.8m

Teemu Pukki – £1.35m

Luiz Gustavo – £900k

Aleksandr Hleb – £135k

Michael Zorc

Another sporting director who has almost single-handedly changed the philosophy of a club alongside Jurgen Klopp, who was pivotal in his role at Borussia Dortmund by turning them into consistent European challengers and Bundesliga winners.

Zorc would be perfect for Spurs to head up a strong rebuild, but because of his connections with Dortmund, a move may be unlikely. The 19/20 season was such a strong window for Dortmund and Michael, with them only spending a net value of £21million (transfermarkt).

Here are just some of the examples of his transfer dealings. Deadwood was shipped out, and quality was brought in. This is what we so badly need.

Dortmund’s 19/20 departures (transfermarkt)

Dortmund’s 19/20 arrivals (transfermarkt)

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