Tottenham’s chief scout Leonardo Gabbanini has left the club, Standard Sport understands.
The Italian had been at Spurs since July 2022, when he was appointed as part of a major revamping of their scouting and recruitment departments under then-managing director of football Fabio Paratici, with the likes of Steve Hitchen and Brian Carey having exited.
Gabbanini was tasked with restructuring Tottenham’s scouting network after impressing in a similar dual role with Watford and Udinese, two clubs owned by the Pozzo family, with Gretar Steinsson also joining as performance director and Rangers’ head scout Andy Scoulding arriving in north London.
Gabbanini - who has also had spells in Serie A with Sampdoria and Fiorentina - worked alongside new head coach Ange Postecoglou this summer as Spurs set about reshaping their squad for a new era under the Australian, which has started in impressive fashion.
Tottenham signed James Maddison and Brennan Johnson from Leicester and Nottingham Forest respectively in a window headlined by their sale of record goalscorer and talisman Harry Kane to Bayern Munich after almost two decades in a deal worth more than £100million.
Spurs also moved to bring in Micky van de Ven, Guglielmo Vicario, Manor Solomon, Alejo Veliz and Ashley Phillips, while completing permanent deals for loanees Dejan Kulusevski and Pedro Porro.
However, Gabbanini has now left his role and his departure coincides with Scott Munn’s first official day at Tottenham, the former City Football Group China and Melbourne Victory CEO having been named their new chief football officer in April following a six-month internal review into all their football activities.
Tottenham have been searching for a new sporting director after Paratici resigned in April having lost an appeal against his worldwide ban from football. The Italian’s eventual successor will effectively lead scouting operations at the club.
