Tottenham’s search for a new sporting director has been paused.

Spurs hired Fabio Paratici last October to work alongside Johan Lange in a dual sporting director structure, but the Italian left the Premier League club in February to return to Italy for personal reasons.

The search will now continue at the end of the summer transfer window, according to minutes from a recent Fan Advisory Board (FAB) meeting.

Another sporting director was set to be brought in this summer, but during a meeting with FAB on June 16, chief executive Vinai Venkatesham confirmed it was no longer a key priority.

Lange, head coach Roberto De Zerbi and Rafi Moersen, who has joined as director of football operations, are leading the club’s recruitment this transfer window.

Asked about the sporting director search, Venkatesham said in minutes from the FAB meeting: “The club has confidence in our people, but if we find someone who can complement our existing team and make it better, we will do that at the right time (and in a summer window is not that time).

“No-one has been in a process and turned us down. Many names in the media linked with us, we have never even spoken to.”

Several topics were discussed during a wide-ranging meeting. Non-executive chairman Peter Charrington and Venkatesham both labelled the 2025-26 campaign “unacceptable” after Spurs only narrowly avoided relegation with a final-day win over Everton.

Charrington also said every decision made at Tottenham was “judged by the metric, ‘Does this make us a better football team?’”

Venkatesham said in the meeting minutes that the season was “unacceptable and cannot happen again”, and that “the ambition is to compete for major trophies and play the style of football our supporters want to see”.

Venkatesham also provided a strong defence of under-fire Lange, who has taken the brunt of criticism from fans after Tottenham finished 17th in each of the Dane’s two full seasons at the club.

“Players are not bought or sold because ‘the club’ wants to or ‘Roberto’ wants to,” he said. “Johan and his team work hand in glove with Roberto to develop and deliver a joint plan.

“Roberto joined because he believes in what we can do together as a team. He had no retention bonus, he has never asked for control over any decision-making, and he was completely committed to the club if we were relegated.

“Johan played a critical role in his appointment. Roberto was always the number one choice and we are delighted with the impact he has made so far.”

It was also revealed new director of football operations Moersen started on June 16 after a period of garden leave following his exit from City Football Group.

Moersen said during FAB meeting: “(My) remit includes recruitment, player transactions, infrastructure, player care and responsibility for the women’s team.”

Ex-Manchester City executive Moersen also emphasised “the importance of player welfare, relationship-building and improving football outcomes” during the meeting which occurred on his first day at Spurs.

Manchester City are close to finally appointing Enzo Maresca as Pep Guardiola’s successor.

City and the Italian have been in talks with Chelsea about a compensation package after Maresca left Stamford Bridge in January.

They are expected to reach an agreement that would allow the former Leicester manager to take over at the Etihad Stadium, with the sum likely to be in excess of £10m.

Chelsea took the view that Maresca breached his contract, which ran until 2029, when he left.

Maresca had told them in autumn that he had held talks about going to City if Guardiola were to leave. Chelsea’s season went into freefall after Maresca’s departure as they only came 10th, with the club’s hierarchy thought to blame their former manager, though results deteriorated under his replacement Liam Rosenior.

Guardiola announced his resignation in May after a decade in Manchester, winning the FA and Carabao Cups in his final campaign. Maresca had two spells on his coaching staff, including as his assistant in 2022/23, when City won a treble including the Champions League.

He then won the Championship with Leicester and the Conference League and the Club World Cup with Chelsea.

City, meanwhile, have tried to start their rebuilding job as they adjust to life after Guardiola. They made a £106m bid for Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson and are interested in Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali, while they have also given a new contract to defender Josko Gvardiol.

The goalkeeper who delivered Curaçao its first World Cup point doesn’t play for one of the top clubs in Europe, or even the top tier in the U.S.

Eloy Room of the USL Championship’s Miami FC recorded 15 saves in Curaçao’s scoreless draw against Ecuador on Saturday night in Kansas City. The match marked the first World Cup point for the tiny island nation, which is appearing in the tournament for the first time.

Room, 37, didn’t have a great start to the World Cup. He was also in goal for Curaçao’s opening game, a 7–1 loss to Germany. Now, he holds the record for the second-most saves in a World Cup match, behind U.S. keeper Tim Howard’s 16 saves in 2014.

After the match, Room joked about his historic performance: “I think I need a statue in Curaçao I think now.”

Room was born in the Netherlands, but chose to represent Curaçao on the national level.

“People called me crazy when I switched from Holland to Curaçao, but I had a goal in mind,” Room said after the game. “What people said didn’t matter. And at the end I’m here, so I think I was right.”

Curaçao is an autonomous island nation in the Caribbean within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The king, queen, and princess of the Netherlands watched the Dutch team play in Houston on Saturday afternoon, then flew to Kansas City to see Curaçao. The royal family danced with the team in the locker room after the match.

Room’s career has spanned clubs in Europe, MLS, and the USL Championship. He spent much of his career with clubs in the Netherlands and spent five seasons and won the 2020 MLS Cup with the Columbus Crew before joining Miami FC in December.

Miami FC’s CEO Nick Sakiewicz told Front Office Sports the game was a “total flashback” to Howard, who had been on the New York MetroStars (now Red Bulls) when Sakiewicz worked in the front office. As for Room, Sakiewicz says he’s been one of the club’s best players this year since joining the team, which is performing better than last season.

“The whole organization is so proud of him,” he says. “He’s gonna get a big welcome home, that’s for sure.”

The main second-tier league in the U.S., the USL has fingerprints all over the World Cup. More than 30 players came through one of their teams, and Room is one of five current players in the tournament—two for Curaçao, and three for Haiti. Eleven U.S. players came through the USL and four have ownership stakes in its clubs. A number of referees and broadcasters in the tournament have also built their chops in the USL.

“I think it validates for us our place in the U.S. Soccer ecosystem,” Paul McDonough, the USL’s new president and CEO, tells FOS.

Room is one of two keepers from small island nations, closer to the end of their careers who have gone viral at the tournament. The other is Cape Verde’s Vozinha, 40, who was in the net for a similarly spectacular draw against Spain. “As a former goalkeeper, I know that 37 is not old,” says Sakiewicz, who is also CEO of the Sports Performance Hub of Miami-Dade, the developer of the team’s new stadium.

It remains to be seen whether Room will rejoin Miami FC once the World Cup is over—the league isn’t taking a break for the tournament—or if he gets a call-up to a bigger club.

“When a player performs like that and has great opportunities to advance and do better, my philosophy’s always been never to hold them back,” Sakiewicz says. “And if he has an opportunity to go play at a higher level or a bigger club, we’ll be the first to throw him a party.”

McDonough shares a similar sentiment.

“I’m sure the club and the player are getting inundated, and you know what, when you save 15 saves at a World Cup game in front of that type of crowd against the opponent you just played against, then his phone does deserve to ring,” McDonough says. “And I think it’s good for him, and I think it’s good for the club, and I think it’s good for the country. And it’s good for us.”

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