Monaco's former director of football, Luis Campos, has played down speculation he could take on a similar role at Tottenham Hotspur to work with Jose Mourinho.
The Portuguese became one of the most sought-after operators in Europe after overseeing deals to build the team that beat Paris Saint-Germain to the Ligue 1 title and reached the final four of the Champions League in 2017.
It was under his regime that the club signed and later sold the likes of Anthony Martial, Bernardo Silva, Fabinho and Thomas Lemar for huge profits.
Since 2017 he has been working as advisor to Lille due to his friendship with the club's owner Gerard Lopez.
Campos had been tipped to join Tottenham following the appointment of Mourinho to replace Mauricio Pochettino earlier this season.
The 45-year-old would have followed coaches Joao Sacramento and Nuno Santos in leaving the French side for Spurs to become the new authority on transfers at Hotspur Way to work under chairman Daniel Levy.
However, despite these links to the north London club, the ex-manager turned talent chief has said he would prefer to stay at Lille.
"My relationship with Gerard changes the scenario," he told L'Equipe , as translated by Sport Witness .
"I am an advisor but we have a relationship that goes beyond the professional framework and spans the border of friendship.
"On the other hand, I think that LOSC [Lille] has enormous potential to become even more competitive in France and in Europe.
"It makes me want to be even more active to achieve this, to bring positive vibes to take advantage of the extraordinary assets of this club with its city, its economy, its stadium, its training centre and its geographical position."
Tottenham do have a history of employing senior figures in a role similar to a director of football, sporting director or technical director.
Damien Comolli and Frank Arnesen worked for the club prior to the arrival of Franco Baldini in 2013.
He had worked as assistant manager to Sven Goran-Eriksson and the England national team before moving on to become a director at Roma ahead of taking on the role of technical director at Spurs.
Following the appointment of Pochettino as manager at White Hart Lane from Southampton in 2014 Levy returned to the south coast club to bring in the head of recruitment at Saints, Paul Mitchell.
He left the club in December 2016 with Rebecca Caplehorn currently in the role of director of football operations at Tottenham.
Campos had worked as a scout for Real Madrid during Mourinho's time as manager at the Bernabeu.
