Alan Hutton, a former Aston Villa full-back, has joined us as an exclusive columnist. Each week, he’ll share his thoughts on the hot topics at Villa Park…
Alan Hutton understands why Rob Mackenzie would leave Aston Villa for Tottenham, especially since former Villa Park sporting director Johan Lange has also done so.
The Standard reported on 3 November that Mackenzie had left his position as Villa’s head of recruitment to become Spurs’ new chief scout, after previously serving as the club’s head of player identification from February 2015 to August 2016. Leonardo Gabbanini left Tottenham in September, and Lange started working for the Premier League club last week.
One of his first actions appears to have been to appoint Mackenzie, which Hutton can understand given their previous working relationship at Aston Villa.
“I didn’t know Johan Lange well, but I understand that when you move clubs and work well with certain people, you want to be surrounded by these types of guys.” “I get it,” Hutton told Villa News.
Mile Jedinak is also at Tottenham, and he was at Villa when I was there, as were Johan and all these other players. They may have a good enough relationship with the manager to act as a go-between.
It occurs in football. You are presented with opportunities, and sometimes you take them, and sometimes you do not. But I wouldn’t worry.
“Monchi is doing an excellent job at Villa. I’m not sure who he has working for him, but everything is going swimmingly. I’m not concerned; it’s not a problem. In other Aston Villa news, a £50 million transfer bid for Douglas Luiz has been made amid recent speculation
