Tottenham Hotspur sporting director Johan Lange is in the role that he is in pretty much by default, as Fabio Paratici jumped ship for Italian side Fiorentina in the winter transfer period in order to actually escape the club's leadership of Vinai Venkatesham and Lange due to their bizarre trust of Thomas Frank.
Paratici ultimately proved right and actually saved the Viola from relegation faster than Spurs managed to confirm their first division status, which would not have happened without Roberto De Zerbi.
All told, the Lange period at Tottenham has been a total disaster, much like his times at FC Copenhagen and Aston Villa. These are clubs that have improved without Lange, with Villa now just winning the Europa League and finishing fourth in the Premier League, spitting on the idea perpetuated by some at Spurs that the club had to choose between one or the other.
Johan Lange had a terrible year
With Tottenham Hotspur coming off their worst season ever, someone may finally be receiving the consequences, and while Vinai Venkatesham appears to be bafflingly safe, Football.London's Alasdair Gold reports that the same cannot be said about Johan Lange.
Per Gold, Lange's future at Tottenham is in "serious doubt" after how poor of a season the club had in 2025/26, and if he is not outright fired, the rumors of him receiving a demotion so that a real sporting director can take charge of the club are not far off base; he would just be a supporting character to the new sporting director.
Many Spurs supporters would prefer that Lange is ousted entirely and that there are not too many cooks in the kitchen, though even his biggest detractors have to admit that sometimes, Lange does have a great eye for those young talents. Lucas Bergvall, for example, was a smashing success by Lange, who has credible scouting ability.
But in terms of actually leading a franchise, Johan Lange is 100 percent way out of his depth. Any Spurs supporters can see that he cannot make the big decisions or command respect at the bargaining table, as Spurs have been getting run over and have been complacent on the transfer market.
Gold's report is another signal that Tottenham are getting closer to pushing Lange out the door permanently or, more likely, demoting him in a role that prevents him from doing further maximum damage to a club that nearly got themselves sent down to the Championship.
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