Tottenham Hotspur have a new man behind the scenes helping in the transfer window and he has explained what his role entails
Tottenham's director of football operations Carlos Raphael Moersen has explained his role at the club which includes playing his part in the transfer window.
football.london previously reported that Moersen, known as 'Rafi', began work at the beginning of this summer's transfer window after serving his gardening leave with the City Football Group, where he spent more than a decade within their huge organisation across the world.
His appointment was initially announced in January by Spurs as the second person hired from the City Group with Dan Lewindon arriving mid-season to replace the previously-departed Adam Brett as the north London club's new performance director.
Moersen worked for four years at Manchester City, becoming their senior sales strategy and development manager before stepping up to the wider group in 2020 to take charge of more focused football affairs, being handed the title in 2024 of director of football transactions.
Now the minutes of a meeting between the club and the Fan Advisory Board which took place last week have been released and Moersen, who started work on the same day - June 16 - spoke about his role, including in what has already been a busy transfer window for Tottenham.
The minutes state that Moersen "a dvised that his remit includes recruitment, player transactions, infrastructure, player care and responsibility for the women's team. He emphasised the importance of player welfare, relationship-building and improving football outcomes and explained his role in player trading at his previous club".
Moersen's arrival comes at a key time with Tottenham operating in a summer transfer window without the services of the experienced Fabio Paratici, who left for Fiorentina in February after a brief return as sporting director. That left Johan Lange to take on the club's recruitment plans alone with Roberto De Zerbi, CEO Vinai Venkatesham and now Moersen, who reports to Lange.
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Spurs are looking for a new sporting director to replace Paratici. That newcomer is unlikely to arrive in this summer transfer window though due to the time involved in getting people out of clubs, as shown by Moersen's protracted move from the City Group.
During the meeting with the fans, Spurs CEO Venkatesham spoke about the sporting director topic and added that nobody had turned the club down for the role, despite reports in Germany that claimed former Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl had rejected the move to north London as De Zerbi now holds so much power in player recruitment.
"Vinai Venkatesham said the club has confidence in our people, but if we find someone who can complement our existing team and make it better, we will do that at the right time (and in a summer window is not that time)," read the meeting minutes. "No one has been in a process and turned us down. Many names in the media linked with us we have never even spoken to.
"Players are not bought or sold because 'the club' wants to or 'Roberto' wants to. Johan and his team work hand in glove with Roberto to develop and deliver a joint plan."
The minutes also stated that Venkatesham added that "s upporters should expect the rebuild to take more than one appointment, decision or transfer window, whilst recognising the importance of this summer’s window in particular".