Tottenham are beginning to narrow down the field when it comes to appointing their new director of football.
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is simultaneously running the club's search for a new head coach as well as the director of football, with a desire to pick a candidate for each position with similar values and football beliefs. In an ideal world, the director of football would arrive first in order to help and advise on the final stages of the move for the head coach.
Tottenham are understood to have narrowed down the field when it comes to the hunt for their new director of football with Roma's Tiago Pinto and ex-Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Tim Steidten among the candidates at this stage.
football.london understands there is also another unnamed leading candidate for the position, but despite reports Brentford technical director Lee Dykes is not currently in consideration for the role and neither is Johannes Spors, who currently operates as 777 Partners' sporting director, working on recruitment with a range of clubs across the world.
The successful candidate will work under new chief football officer Scott Munn, who is set to officially begin work as Levy's number two on July 1.
READ MORE: Daniel Levy, the Julian Nagelsmann truth and what Tottenham want in their next manager
Those who know Pinto have told football.london that of the leading candidates the Portuguese is the "big operator" and the most natural replacement for Fabio Paratici, who resigned from the club last month after failing to win his appeal against his 30-month ban from the Italian football federation.
Pinto, 38, is general manager at Roma where he has worked with former Spurs boss Jose Mourinho over the last couple of years.
Both Liverpool and West Ham have previously considered a move for Pinto, who is understood to have revolutionised Roma behind the scenes and has been praised for his recruitment and the culture he has created within the Serie A club. Pinto was brought in from Benfica in 2020, where he was credited with overseeing plenty of their success at varying levels before becoming the director of football in 2017.
Roma’s chairman Dan Friedkin described Pinto as "a world-class talent" and as well as his recruitment ability, he is keen on his clubs developing academy players into stars, as seen by the burgeoning production line at Benfica. The Portuguese club produced a long line of future stars under Pinto and bought wisely before selling them for huge numbers to other European clubs.
Mourinho credited Pinto with showing him the ambition of Roma and helping his decision in joining in 2021 after leaving Tottenham.
After signing on the dotted line himself at Roma, Pinto said: "When I arrive I will understand the work that has to be done. They wanted me for me for what I did here at Benfica. I’m going there to modernise their sporting department. Serie A is a very unpredictable league, like all the most important ones in Europe. Big sides are suffering from lack of audience. The most important thing is to create a winning mentality, play game by game and then achieve our targets."
Steidten is currently out of work, having left Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen two months ago. The 44-year-old only became sporting director last year, after working his way up from chief scout, having joined from Werder Bremen in 2019.
In Germany he is credited with bringing a string of young stars to Leverkusen, including Piero Hincapie, a 21-year-old Ecuadorian centre-back that Spurs have a firm interest in.
football.london understands that Levy is yet to discuss the role directly with Steidten. The German is another who was considered by Liverpool in recent months and he was in charge at Leverkusen when they made the decision in October to hire Xabi Alonso - now one of the head coach candidates for Spurs.
Tottenham chairman Levy must decide on his next director of football and the sooner the better as the club approaches a key stage in rebuilding at all levels as a disappointing season comes to a close.
READ NEXT:
- Fabio Paratici - The man who can no longer tell Daniel Levy what to do at Tottenham
- How Julian Nagelsmann would transform Tottenham and help Daniel Levy after Stellini exit
- Tottenham in Romaine Mundle contract race with first team promotion after Herbie James transfer
- The incredible list of ex-Tottenham stars playing in a remarkable fundraising match next month
Tottenham complete transfer for talented young defender and striker signs new deal with the club
