Who is Steve Hitchen? Everton’s DoF ‘target’ profiled and best career deals including Luis Suarez to Liverpool

Everton are targeting Steve Hitchen as their new director of football.

The 46-year-old has left his role as Tottenham Hotspur’s director of technical performance on the eve of his fifth anniversary at the club.

Now the Toffees are reportedly keen to bring Hitchen to Goodison Park as a successor to Marcel Brands, who departed in December.

But who is Steve Hitchen? Here’s all the information you need to know.

Playing career

Hitchen was born in Salford in November 1976.

He had a relatively modest career during his playing days.

Hitchen, a defender, came through the ranks at Blackburn Rovers before joining Macclesfield Town in 1997.

He made 151 appearances for the Silkmen before he joined Bangor City in 2004 and hung up his boots the same year.

Early scouting days

After retiring, Hitchen took up a role as Tottenham as a part-time European scout.

It’s said that he scouted Luka Modric extensively before he joined the north London outfit, along with Benoît Assou-Ekotto and Younes Kaboul.

The Suarez deal

When Damien Comolli left as Tottenham’s director of football to join Liverpool in 2010, he took Hitchen with him.

And famously, he was the man who convinced the Reds to sign Luis Suarez from Ajax.

According to a previous Camolli interview, Hitchen was well aware of Suarez and got the information that the forward had been made available.

“Steve was the main reason why we signed Suarez," Comolli said.

"He knew Suarez very, very well from his time at Spurs. And he got the intel that Ajax had made Suarez available for transfer. Nobody else knew that. It gave us a head start. That is typical of Steve."

After Camolli exited Anfield in 2012, so did Hitchen.

He went to QPR to become their head of European scouting before joining Derby County in 2016 as joint director of recruitment.

Return to Tottenham

Hitchen returned to Tottenham just a year at Derby. He replaced the head of recruitment Paul Mitchell.

Hitchen became part of an extremely successful set-up of the footballing structure at Spurs.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side reached the Champions League final in 2019 only to be beaten by Liverpool.

The Telegraph reports that during his time, Hitchen negotiated deals for Bruno Fernandes, Paulo Dybala, Jack Grealish and James Ward-Prowse.

Yet Tottenham pulled out of completing the moves because of financial issues. Grealish went on to join Manchester City for £100 million last summer.

It’s also claimed that club-record signing Tanguy Ndombele, who’s struggled since his £55 million arrival in 2019, was very much a priority of Pochettino.

Meanwhile, former boss Jose Mourinho was delighted with Hitchen landing all of his targets in the summer of 2020 and current manager Antonio Conte is a big admirer.

Why is Steve Hitchen leaving Tottenham?

It is reported that Hitchen has handed in his notice as his role has become reduced.

The arrival of Fabio Paratici as managing director of football last summer meant he had more control in the past two transfer windows.

Everton have been alerted by his availability, although Newcastle United and Leicester City are also said to be keen.