Transfers
Tottenham’s Technical Director’s Role In Timo Werner, Radu Dragusin’s Transfer
Johan Lange, the technical director of Tottenham, has been noticeable at the team in recent months, especially with Radu Dragusin and Timo Werner’s transfers.
Timo Werner, a 27-year-old striker from RB Leipzig, joined the Spurs this week on a loan agreement that will last until the end of the season.
Dragusin, a 21-year-old Romanian who signed a contract worth £21.5 million plus a further £4 million in add-ons, quickly followed the German through the Hotspur Way doors. Djed Spence was walking in the other direction.
Lange contributed to both of Tottenham‘s transfers. Ange Postecoglou was alerted to Werner’s availability as a former Chelsea player by the Danish technical director, who included him on the list of possible offensive targets.
Spurs head coach said, “You’re looking for these opportunities and potentially looking beyond the obvious to say, ‘there’s an opportunity here’. When Johan presented it to me, I was really excited by it because I thought, ‘Here’s an opportunity that normally wouldn’t come across our desk at this point in time where we are as a club.
“Our priority was the centre-back position, but I could see some real possibilities for him playing in our system; maybe at Leipzig, where they’ve changed the way they play, the opportunities wouldn’t be as plentiful for him there.”
Although Fabio Paratici, the former managing director of Tottenham, was aware of Dragusin, on December 15, while Tottenham was winning at Nottingham Forest, Lange and chief scout Mackenzie were in Genoa, watching the Romanian play in his team’s back three in the 1-1 draw with Juventus. One week later, Lange was reportedly spotted once more, this time in the stands, witnessing Genoa defeat Sassuolo 2-1, and he reportedly gave the defender another glance.
Postecoglou said, “We’ve been working on the center-back position pretty much since the summer window closed, and there’s been a whole list of players we worked through methodically.” “A lot of that work has been done by the scouting department, and Johan came in and Rob Mackenzie and the team started working into further detail.
“They presented it to me probably six weeks ago.” From the beginning, Radu was always on the radar as one of the players we thought would be a good option for us. Then it was about getting as much information on him as a player and a person.”
“We spoke to as many people about him as possible and had him scouted again, and I’ve been following him since we highlighted him.”
Lange, along with Chairman Daniel Levy, worked through the night until three in the morning on the negotiations to ensure that Dragusin’s signing did not fall through after Bayern Munich’s desperate attempt to hijack the transfer.
