Everton want Steve Hitchen as new director of football as he exits Tottenham
Everton want to enter talks to hire Steve Hitchen as their new director of football after he quit Tottenham, according to The Telegraph.
The newspaper reports that Hitchen, 45, quit Spurs after becoming frustrated by his reduced role involving transfers at the London club.
It is understood that Hitchen was well-liked by Antonio Conte but has been reduced to overseeing Spurs’ medical, sports science and analysis departments due to Fabio Paratici’s arrival there.
Wealth of knowledge
Hitchen sounds as though he could be quite a good hire with the former Macclesfield Town defender playing a vital role in Spurs’ rise under Mauricio Pochettino.
Of course, there’s been nothing but disappointment at the North London club since their Champions League final appearance in 2019. But the fact remains that Hitchen is a proven operator in a role that Everton are trying to fill.
If Daniel Levy had been more open to spending money, Spurs’ squad could look very different now and their trophy cabinet may not be so dusty.
The Telegraph claims that Hitchen “negotiated deals for Bruno Fernandes, Paulo Dybala, Jack Grealish and James Ward-Prowse only for the club to back out of completing the transfers over financial issues”.
Everton will be a tough job for Hitchen because of the Financial Fair Play restrictions but he will be backed as much as possible by a rich owner, who’s not afraid to splash the cash, and could work alongside a manager who’s well-respected in the game and can be a lure just from his name.
We’ll see if talks start but this is encouraging and if Farhad Moshiri does hire Hitchen, he needs to listen to him way more than Kia Joorabchian or Alisher Usmanov.
In other Everton news, Jack Grealish was stunned by an “unbelievable” player who headed to Goodison.