Franco Baldini has agreed a severance package with Tottenham Hotspur and the sporting director will leave the club after the transfer window closes on 1 September. The Italian has been working this summer to sell a clutch of players who were signed on his watch and, in the end, he has paid for the collective failure of those who were bought with the £86m that the sale of Gareth Bale realised. Baldini arrived from Roma in the summer of 2013 – the one in which Bale’s world record switch to Real Madrid was eventually sanctioned – and he oversaw the purchase of seven players for a total of £110.5m, including Érik Lamela, who followed him from Roma for a Tottenham record £30m.
Of the seven, Christian Eriksen and Nacer Chadli have been hits but Baldini has moved on three of the misses so far this summer – Vlad Chiriches, Paulinho and Étienne Capoue – and he is attempting to sell a fourth, Roberto Soldado. Chiriches joined from Steaua Bucharest for £8.5m and has left for Napoli for £4.5m; Paulinho, the £17m signing from Corinthians, has moved to Guangzhou Evergrande for £10m and Capoue, who cost £11m from Toulouse, has gone to Watford for £6m.
Soldado has played no part in pre-season and he and Tottenham want to arrange a transfer, possibly to Spain, where Villarreal are interested. Mauricio Pochettino, the manager, said on Wednesday that Soldado remained a part of his plans and that the striker had missed the trip to Germany for the Audi Cup because of a back injury. But the preferred solution is to sell him, and that will be one of Baldini’s last tasks at the club. Lamela is expected to stay but he has much to do to justify the fee that was paid for him.
Baldini’s remit when he arrived at Tottenham was essentially to be the head of recruitment but when Pochettino pushed for the appointment of Paul Mitchell from Southampton last November as the head of the recruitment, it was not difficult to read the tea leaves. Pochettino was previously the manager at Southampton and he worked well there with Mitchell.
The pair have overhauled the recruitment and scouting at Tottenham, adding a number of new faces, including Rob Mackenzie, who joined from Leicester City and is effectively Mitchell’s No2. Baldini has been squeezed out, and left to concentrate on outgoing deals.
Spurs are in advanced negotiations with Lyon over the 21-year-old forward Clinton N’jie. The Cameroon international, who is quick and shows a good touch, is valued by the French club at £15m. David Hytner
