Ange Postecoglou believes Tottenham will soon appoint a new director of football and expects Rodrigo Bentancur to return to action in November. That has meant Postecoglou has had to drive much of his own recruitment at Spurs with the club’s scouting team and he admitted to football.london that it had been an “unusual” summer transfer window.
Ange Postecoglou said: “It’s not usual. It’s unusual. If you look at the way the club’s worked previously, [a director of football has] always been in place,” said the head coach. “It’s different, which I assume won’t be the case moving forward.”
When asked if it had slowed Spurs’ transfer business down,
Ange Postecoglou replied: “No. It’s just unusual. It’s different. When you’re doing something and there’s already a process in place, then you know how it’s going to work. Whereas this is a new manager and no sporting director so I think anyone would say it’s unusual. Usually you’d have one or the other. Maybe a new coach or maybe a new sporting director but there’s processes there. Here, you’ve got both so you’re going into a window where a lot of things that are usually embedded in this kind of period aren’t there.”
Postecoglou is expecting someone to fill the club’s director of football vacancy sooner rather than later.
Ange Postecoglou said: “Yeah, I think it will [be sorted soon]. That’s definitely the club’s plan. It’s fair to say that going into the window, there was no point in rushing that appointment, particularly with a new manager in. The thinking behind it was that probably the best way to charter this unusual process is to have less involvement with new people as possible. So far, the evidence, when you see the players we’ve brought in, I think we’ve navigated it pretty well.”
So does the Australian feel freer without a sporting director above him making the decisions? No, because he admits he usually gets his own way anyway.
Ange Postecoglou said: “No, I’ve never felt encumbered with whoever I work with. I usually get my way with whoever I work with. I don’t have total control. I have control of one side of it,” he explained. “This is a player I think I could fit, but there’s a whole range of factors that come into it from the financial side of it. These kind of things I have zero control of. Obviously other people take over then. It’s not like I can do what I want, but it’s something I’m really strong on. I wouldn’t see the sense in bringing a player in I didn’t think would fit. I don’t care who was putting him forward or giving him to me, because I think ultimately whatever happens I’m going to take responsibility. I would never say: ‘You know what I didn’t sign this player’ or ‘he’s not one of mine’. Once a player comes into the club he’s mine. That’s how I see it. I like working with a sporting director because they do most of the leg work that I just don’t have the time to do. When you’ve got a good sporting director you work together. They see the game through your eyes and they say ‘this guy is going to be perfect for you’ and you look at it and you go ‘brilliant I don’t even have to worry about it’. I will never say a signing wasn’t mine. So if I’m going to take that stance, I want the final say. I hope it is [obvious that I get my own way]. I don’t say that in an arrogant way. I like to think it gives people comfort. I’m going to take responsibility for it. It’s not like I go around telling people what to do. I want people to be at ease that whatever decisions we make as a collective, I will take responsibility for. Obviously I’m taking a fairly big lead in terms of I’m the one that’s providing the information in terms of what we need and then it goes to our scouting department. There’s a whole group of people there who put the information together and give me the kind of list that I need. Some of it is just players who come on the market and again they are given to me to have a look at. Do I think they will fit the profile? I’ll give them the feedback. Then that gets passed on to the people who do the negotiation side of it.”
Postecoglou is not expecting to have a big say in who Tottenham appoint as their next director of football but he will need it to be someone who understands him and that also lies in his hands.
Ange Postecoglou said: “What I will have a say in is whoever it may be that they get to know me and understand me. I’m not going to appoint the person, I’m certainly not going to get involved in that process. The club have already got a clear idea of the way I work and the way I think and the way I want my teams to play. Whoever that person is, it’s my role then to get him to understand me and see the game through my eyes.”
One future arrival on Postecoglou’s radar is Rodrigo Bentancur. The Uruguayan has been out of action since February when he had surgery on a ruptured cruciate ligament. Bentancur was a star for Spurs last season before the campaign-ending injury against Leicester and his new Tottenham head coach says the midfielder has been champing at the bit to get involved even if the medical team won’t allow it just yet.
Ange Postecoglou said: “There’s not a defined [comeback date] but he is getting closer. I think probably around November time, we’d be looking to reintegrate him into it. He’s ticking all the boxes so far. He’s really keen. He came to see me yesterday wanting to train and within a minute I had one of the medical team running behind him to collar him and drag him out. He’s definitely keen and it’ll be great to get him back because his contribution when he first came to the club was outstanding. In many respects he’ll be like another new signing for us, which is great but we won’t rush it. It’s obviously a significant injury so we’re probably looking around that timescale.”
Former club captain Hugo Lloris has turned down various moves during this window, including an approach from Newcastle, while his hometown club Nice have offered him a return to France. Postecoglou earlier made it clear that the World Cup winner would not be in his squad registered with the Premier League.
Ange Postecoglou said: “I’m not going to have three first team goalkeepers on my list, especially talking about the homegrown quota it doesn’t make any sense to have two foreign goalkeepers on the list, and Hugo knows that. I haven’t been involved in all that process [with his future] because it’s purely a decision for Hugo and the club, and whatever decision he makes for himself it’s not like it’s something in my sphere of responsibility at the moment. Hugo can speak for himself, but [his drive for change] was fairly evident from what I understand and I haven’t been told anything different.”
Postecoglou is looking ahead now to yet another rebuild to add to the many he has undertaken throughout his long managerial career and he admits he relishes this part of the job.
Ange Postecoglou said: “I came in in terms of my expectations, trying not to lock myself into any certain course of action where you have to have change. I’ve been at some clubs and thought not much needs to change. Ultimately change means change and we needed to change personnel. The club decided to change direction in terms of the football we wanted to play. I decided that we needed a new coaching staff so there has to be change. The reality of it is that this team finished eighth last year. That gives you an indication of where the club was at and what it thought it needed. I’ve taken that on board and haven’t been blocked in any sort of way in terms of the changes we wanted to. There has been a lot of change, it is probably not ideal in the short term but the fact we’ve handled that well is a good sign. I love this part of the process, you know how challenging it is. It is really difficult. There are going to be many bumps on the road where everything gets questioned, decisions get questioned. I love that process, when things are going well you obviously enjoy the success but usually when you get to that point you reflect back on the beginnings and realise that none of it would have been possible if you didn’t stay strong and true to what you want to do at the beginning. This has been the fifth or sixth rebuild in a row that I’ve done and I’ve loved it.”
