Tottenham Grant Paul Mitchell Permission to Talk to Other Clubs

Tottenham’s protracted disengagement with Head of Recruitment Paul Mitchell appears to be reaching its end as the club has allowed him to explore his options.

ESPN reports that Tottenham agreed recently to not hold Mitchell to the last year remaining on his contract. The former MK Dons scout originally served his notice in August, but was not initially permitted to leave due to the terms of his contract.

So ends an era at Spurs that wasn’t quite the success anyone at the club hoped it would be. Mitchell was brought into the club in the first months of Mauricio Pochettino’s reign. He was young — only 33 — but already enjoyed some success with MK Dons.

His appointment was an implicit critique of the work done by Spurs’ Director of Football Franco Baldini. The Italian oversaw the splurge that followed the sale of Gareth Bale that was widely seen a particularly wasteful mistake. Mitchell, fresh faced and with an eye for younger talent, was brought in to help Academy director John McDermott oversee an expansive repair job led by Pochettino.

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Baldini stayed on with the club to help negotiate the sales of several of his most expensive flops, including Roberto Soldado and Paulinho. When he left the club in September of 2015, it was widely interpreted as a sign of the Pochettino-Mitchell-McDermott triumvirate’s final victory.

The proceeds of those player sales were re-directed into a small handful of younger players that, Spurs hoped, would supplement the young core of talent Pochettino nurtured the season before. Mitchell’s hand was seen in the acquisition of Kevin Wimmer, Heung-min Son and Clinton Njie.

Though initially promising, it is now clear with the benefit of hindsight that those were hardly monumental signings.

Wimmer shined briefly when Jan Vertonghen suffered an injury midway through the 2015/16 season, though now finds himself as Spurs’ fourth choice centre-back.

Son’s peaks have been impressive, but his inconsistency often consigns him to the bench.

Finally, after a false start and a season-shortening injury, Njie finds himself out on a loan-to-permanent deal with Marseille this season.

In fairness to Mitchell, it appears as if his ambitions were not always fully supported by the club. Spurs’ very public hunt for Marseille striker Michy Batshuayi, for instance, was ultimately nixed by club chairman Daniel Levy, leaving the Belgian available for a move to rivals Chelsea.

Furthermore, the players the club did spend money on instead of Batshuayi haven’t exactly panned out. Vincent Janssen’s inability to score a goal in open play keeps him out of Pochettino’s consideration, while the £30 million deal that brought in Mousa Sissoko might be remembered as the worst transfer of the 2016 window.

It was therefore understandable that Mitchell would feel disillusioned come the end of August. His own record was spotty, but he was constrained by the limits of a club prioritizing the financing of a new stadium.

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He was kept on for the simple reason that the club lacked alternatives either internally or available elsewhere. The arrival of new chief scout Steve Hitchen last month heralded Mitchell’s permanent departure.

Though his Spurs saga is over, Mitchell remains in high demand. Scottish hopefuls Rangers are in line to name him their director of football, though may face competition from other clubs.