Everton

Everton

Premier League • England

Everton make former Tottenham chief their ‘number one target’ to replace Marcel Brands as DoF

Steven Hitchen former Tottenham director

Everton have reportedly made former Tottenham man Steven Hitchen their number one target for the vacant director of football role.

The Toffees have been without a chief since Dutchman Marcel Brands left his job in early December. It came after hefty criticism of Brands’ transfer strategy, with several of his signings failing to reach their potential over the years.

Brands had also been confronted by angry supporters following the 4-1 defeat to local rivals Liverpool at Goodison Park.

The 59-year-old, who previously worked at PSV Eindhoven, had plenty of allies within the club and two of them left soon after him.

Head of recruitment Gretar Steinsson and scouting manager Dan Purdy both walked away from Everton in the immediate aftermath.

That left owner Farhad Moshiri needing a complete overhaul. He has already brought in Frank Lampard to replace Rafa Benitez as manager and Hitchen could follow the Chelsea legend.

According to the Daily Mail, Hitchen is Everton’s ‘first-choice target’ to come into the director of football vacancy.

Steven Hitchen is free to move

He is a free agent after having left Tottenham last week. The 45-year-old had been Spurs’ director of technical performance since February 2017.

He has already engaged in preliminary talks with the Everton board and is now the favourite to be appointed.

Arturo Vidal to leave Inter Milan for Conte reunion at Tottenham

Arturo Vidal to leave Inter Milan for Conte reunion at Tottenham

Arturo Vidal to leave Inter Milan for Tottenham

However, he is not the only option for the Merseyside outfit. Former Wolves sporting director Kevin Thelwell is also under consideration. He worked at Molineux from 2008 t0 2020 but left after receiving an approach from New York Red Bulls.

Thelwell is still working in MLS but could be tempted by an offer to return to the Premier League.

Frank Lampard provides injury update

Meanwhile, Lampard has given an update on three Everton stars following the 3-1 defeat to Newcastle.

Demarai Gray saw his recurring hip problem resurface and had to be replaced by new arrival Dele Alli early on.

Centre-back Yerry Mina also picked up an injury, this time to his quadricep. Left-back Vitaliy Mykolenko, meanwhile, missed the game altogether due to illness.

On Mina, Lampard told reporters: “It’s a quad injury. We’re slightly concerned about it, but we’ll have to assess over the next few days.”

But the former midfielder was more positive about Gray and Mykolenko, as the pair could feature in Saturday’s game against Leeds.

“It [losing Mykolenko] was a disruption because in terms of natural left-backs, left wing-backs, he’s the one at the club,” Lampard added.

“We’ve got Jonjoe Kenny who can do that role. And you saw Andros [Townsend] playing in that area of the pitch tonight. We can be effective in that sense but to lose your left-sided player is not easy. We hope he may be back for the weekend.

“Demarai’s is a hip injury, which he’s had previously and come back from quickly, so we’re hopeful on that one.”

READ MORE: Everton brush off fresh interest in star from Euro giants with stern warning over deal cost