Steve Hitchen has resigned as Tottenham's director of technical performance.
Following the arrival of Fabio Paratici at the club last summer as managing director of football with Spurs electing to go in a different direction after two poor seasons on the pitch, Hitchen has now decided the time is right to move on for a fresh challenge elsewhere.
First arriving at the club in 2005 after his playing career, Hitchen spent five years with Tottenham in scouting roles before linking up with Liverpool in 2010.
After further spells with both Queen Park Rangers and Derby County, Hitchen returned to Spurs in February 2017 after his appointment as chief scout following the resignation of head of recruitment Paul Mitchell.
However, he endured a mixed time in regards to signings at the club with a number of players struggling to hit the heights for the Lilywhites.
Two of those were Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso, who departed on loan to Lyon and Villarreal respectively on transfer deadline day after failing to make an impact following their big-money moves to the club.
Lucas Moura was one of Hitchen's players to make an impact, however, and Mauricio Pochettino went on to praise his Tottenham compatriot after the Brazilian's double in Spurs' brilliant 3-0 win over Manchester United in August 2018.
"Yes, many many praise he is going to receive now. But for me I want to say to our chief scout Steve Hitchen and all the people that worked with him, because they advised to sign him," he said.
"When the people sometimes criticise because always it is tough now, I think I need to say well done, because today's performance from Lucas Moura, for the people that advised and feel responsible too, they need to be praised too. That is why I want to congratulate them.
"There are always people who are working behind and it was a fantastic job because today I think Lucas deserves a lot of credit."
Later taking on a different role at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium having been promoted to technical performance director in September 2020, Tottenham decided to change things about last summer after the arrival of Paratici from Juventus.
Having worked alongside the Italian over the past few months, with both seen sitting by the Tottenham bench on a matchday, Hitchen has now decided to call time on his spell in north London.
Reports have linked Hitchen with a director of football position at Everton.
