Spurs appoint new international scout as recruitment staff surge continues

Tottenham Hotspur managing director of football Fabio Paratici has already changed the way Spurs do things, and there’s news today that suggests he is continuing to revamp the way the club identifies and goes after talent. Today, several sources including the Birmingham Mail and Football.London are reporting that Spurs have hired Jeff Vetere as a new scout tasked with identifying international talent overseas.

Vetere, according to the Mail, has worked as a scout for Real Madrid, Charlton Athletic, West Ham, Newcastle, and Aston Villa, where he was reportedly part of the team that brought in Darren Bent. Vertere also served as Birmingham’s Director of Football, but has been out of football for the past four years.

As fans, one of the long-simmering points of discontent we have had with Spurs and the way they operate is their scouting. While none of us really knows what’s going on behind the scenes, there’s been a sense that the scouting infrastructure has been left alone to slowly deteriorate since the days of Paul Mitchell and his infamous “black box.”

While I can’t tell you much about Vetere, he is the latest in a string of Paratici hires that has fleshed out Spurs’ scouting network, and that should be seen at minimum as a positive development. Last month, Paratici announced the hiring of Gretar Steinsson as his right hand man, and the club has slowly been rebuilding its scouts as it tries to be smarter in the way it identifies players. It may be a while before we know whether these new additions pay dividends in the way Spurs bring in new players, but I like the continued focus on developing this area. If nothing else, a more robust scouting network means additional pools of talent from which to draw.