Spurs appoint Lange to lead talent hunt before potentially big January

TOTTENHAM have filled their vacant technical director role with the appointment of Johan Lange from Aston Villa.

- Dan Kilpatrick

The 43-year-old will start in his role on November 1 and effectively succeeds Fabio Paratici, who resigned his post as Spurs’s managing director of football in April after losing an appeal against a two-and-a-half-year ban from working in the game.

Unlike Paratici, however, Lange will not be in charge of running the club’s entire football operations — a responsibility which has since been assumed by new chief football officer Scott Munn — and the Dane will instead manage recruitment, analytics and talent ID across Tottenham’s senior and academy teams.

Lange (right) will report to Munn, who led the latter stages of a lengthy recruitment process alongside chairman Daniel Levy.

Said to be quiet and thoughtful by colleagues, Lange was responsible for Villa signing Leon Bailey, Emiliano Buendia, Danny Ings, Ashley Young, Bertrand Traore, Morgan Sanson and Matty Cash, and will have a key role in continuing Spurs’s rebuild under Ange Postecoglou.