Lange lands Tottenham director role after surprise recommendation

By Wayne Veysey

10th Oct, 2023 | 1:30pm

Sources: Tottenham agree surprise deal after Mile Jedinak recommends him to Ange Postecoglou

Johan Lange has landed the Tottenham technical director role after being recommended to Ange Postecoglou by his assistant Mile Jedinak, sources have told Football Insider.

Jedinak worked with Lange at Aston Villa, where he made his name in coaching after finishing his playing career in 2019.

The Australian, 39, joined Tottenham from Villa in the summer as a member of Postecoglou’s senior coaching staff.

Lange, who will begin work on 1 November, is a surprise appointment by Spurs given he had been effectively demoted at Aston Villa in recent months.

Monchi was appointed in the summer to head up the recruitment team at the Midlands giants and take on the role previously filled by the Dane.

Lange had been effectively removed of first-team transfer responsibilities and had been working from an office in Copenhagen in a newly created global director of football development role.

Get Exclusive transfers news at Football Insider's YouTube TV channel

At Villa, he was responsible for the successful signings of stars like Ollie Watkins, Emiliano Martinez and Matty Cash – as well as flops such as Morgan Sanson and Ross Barkley.

The Dane replaces Fabio Paratici in the role at Tottenham following his resignation in April.

Paratici was hit with a two-and-a-half-year worldwide ban by FIFA in March after his former club Juventus were found guilty of false accounting.

Lange and Tottenham will now look ahead to the January window after spending big in the summer.

Micky van de Ven, Brennan Johnson, James Maddison and Gugliemo Vicario were among the new arrivals at Spurs, who have turned over a new leaf since Postecoglou’s arrival.

The Lilywhites sit top of the Premier League heading into the international break and are yet to taste defeat in the top flight this term.

In other news, Tottenham ready to join race to sign ex-Celtic man in January.