Johannes Spors, 777's International Sporting Director, began his career as an analyst at Hoffenheim in Germany. Photo: Simone Arveda/Getty Images
The man who will take full responsibility for Everton's football department insists soon-to-be new owners 777 Partners can prove their critics wrong and has backed manager Sean Dyche and sporting director Kevin Thelwella
Johannes Spors, 777's global sporting director, gave a rare interview to Telegraph Sport as the group awaits Premier League approval for its takeover of Everton.
Sports has already held talks with Thelwell, who will remain in charge of the club's day-to-day football operations, and Dyche, and was also present at Everton's victories over Newcastle United and Chelsea.
>He was very impressed pair and explained why he believes Everton could benefit from being the «missing link» in Group 777, which already includes Genoa, Standard Liege, Hertha Berlin and Red Star Belgrade. in Paris and Vasco da Gama, as well as as minority stakes in Seville and Melbourne Victory.
During an hour-long video call from Saudi Arabia, where he was a guest of FIFA ahead of the Club World Cup and on 777 business, Spors said:
- All 777 clubs are better off with their participation.
- His track record of attracting and developing talent speaks for itself.
- Jarrad Branthwaite is a great example of why loans are so important
- Everton will be at the forefront of the best talent 777 .
Fresh from a two-day conference of all 777 Group Sports Directors in Berlin, which was sandwiched between his travel. to Everton and a trip to Saudi Arabia, Spors revealed how the group model works when he's at the top of the football business.
“The local athletic directors report to me,” Spors said. “They are entirely responsible locally, but we are involved in making important decisions. I don't make decisions on every small contract, every academy player or physiotherapy decision. But the main ones are hiring a player, selling a player, decisions of the head coach, decisions of the sports director. We want them to join.
“I communicate with all the clubs every day. In Europe I see clubs very often. I'd go to two clubs a week and then the next week I'd go to two more clubs — I try to juggle it that way. It depends a little on where the pressure is, where the fire is to fight, or where the situation is to be resolved.
Spors described Everton head coach Sean Dyche called a “brilliant” player. Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images
“It is very important that I often visit clubs with our Director of Data and Analytics Mladen Sormas and Marcel Klos. I need to be there. I get to see practice, talk to the directors, and interact with the coach and other people. I need to feel how this club lives. I need to anticipate what will happen next, and for this I travel and I need to be in contact with the guys. I also have one-on-one calls with each athletic director every week.”
Spors began his career as an analyst at Hoffenheim in Germany, working with Ralf Rangnick, and then followed the former Manchester United caretaker manager to RB Leipzig, in charge of recruitment when the German club was still in the second division. His first job as sporting director came at Vitesse Arnhem, where he worked closely with Chelsea and brought in young Armando Broch on loan before he moved to Genoa and began his relationship with 777.
< p>The takeover of Everton pushed him closer. looked closely at 777's business, but Spors said every club in the group benefited from their ownership and outlined how much profit it believed Everton could expect to make.
“We want clubs to be the best versions of themselves,” Spors said. “We have a problem: every club that has joined the group in recent history has developed in the wrong direction. We need to reverse the development of all the clubs and they are all in a better position now.
“So we've made the teams younger, we've made each team cheaper in terms of wage bill, but we've increased the value of the squad . That's what we did at Red Bull, the same thing I did in Arnhem with Broja and Lois Openda, who is now in Leipzig. This is what I do everywhere.
“If you look at the players we signed at Genoa — we have Albert Gudmundsson, he was a very cheap player and now he is a Serie A sensation. Morten Frendrup [who was linked with Liverpool] was a very cheap player from Denmark . who now has the best statistics in all of Serie A in many aspects. We have many examples of young players developing to become much better and more valuable.
“We want to identify players as early as possible and use their development because, frankly, I think that is also very important for the success of the team: you have a group that wants to develop and fights to become better — like the young Everton players too, they are on the same line.”
Sports has experience of working at clubs where there had previously been skepticism about new ownership models, and he said: “When I was at “ Hoffenheim, we received a lot of attacks because it was the first time in Germany that an owner invested in a club, which was really unique for a German club. Then Red Bull was the second version of this.
“Of course, now I am part of 777 and I see new clubs in the group, and sometimes the fans are not happy with this at first. But we see that the reaction is very fast and very positive in all the countries we are in, because we really respect the history and tradition of each club. We're not rebranding or anything like that and our experience is very visible because we've turned these clubs around very quickly and made them much more successful versions of themselves.»
«Everton will be the missing link»
Everton appear to be in the front rank if a player from one of the other 777 clubs demonstrates he is ready to play in the Premier League or higher level.
Everton will be the missing link in the group and could to become the club that will recruit players when, for example, Liege or Berlin prepare them,” Spors said. “This is something they can really participate in.”
“We wouldn’t tell Liege or Berlin that you are feeding Everton now.” Absolutely not, that would be wrong. But if there is a logical step and someone is really good in Belgium and there are clubs the size of Everton interested, then of course we will do everything possible for that player to make an internal group transfer rather than an external transfer.”
Everton's impressive young centre-back Branthwaite, who spent time on loan at Blackburn Rovers and PSV Eindhoven, is another example of how a club can use a group to send its young players to earn experience.< /p>
“They get first-hand information about what's going on at all of our clubs, where our talent is particularly developing,” Spors said. “We involve not only sports directors, we involve youth academies, we involve scouts, we involve women’s football. This means there are other parts where you can get exclusive knowledge.
“By developing players, we can offer football at any level. It's hard for a young player to play in the Premier League. So in the future we can help them give playing time to younger players. At 17-18 years old, you just need to play, you need to gain minutes. Honestly, this is one of Red Bull's secrets. They allow them to play very young in the first team and if players need game time at a lower level they have FC Liefering, Red Bull Salzburg's second team. Many players who have achieved great development, such as [Dayot] Upamecano, Dominik Szoboszlai or Patson Daka, started in this environment, and we can offer that too.
“Everton are already seeing the benefits of this with Branthwaite. He's a fantastic player. It's a combination of his technique, his speed and the way he uses his body, coupled with the mentality and experience at that age that he has gained from loaning out. These are the pillars that are critical to a great career, and he brings it all. He continues to push for success, but for his career, he's really great.»
Everton's impressive young centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite has had loan spells at Blackburn, PSV and PSV Jong. Photo: Simon Stackpool/Getty Images
Sports has already taken a hands-on approach with Everton. He was present at victories over Bournemouth, Newcastle and Chelsea and has been in regular contact with Thelwell, who will update him if and when the 777 acquisition is confirmed.
“I've been to Everton a lot in recent months and I love the stadium, the fans and the environment,” Spors said. “I really like what Kevin Thelwell is doing, the way he has structured the football organization. I think the way he has worked with the team is going well, as has the decision on Sean Dyche.
When asked if he had met Dyche yet, Spors replied: “Yes, I have. He's great. The whole Finch Farm training ground is great, the people I've met are great and Sean Dyche was a pleasure to meet. I met him at a longer meeting some time ago during the games. It’s not just me, but also Mladen [Sormaz] and a few other guys. Sean is doing a really good job, it's fantastic.
«He said after the Chelsea game: 'That's why I do this job — to help the players and see the players develop.'» Just a few weeks ago when he explained what he sees in the players and what he thinks will be possible because it shows so much on the pitch. That's what you want. You want the club to exceed their best in games and make the most of the opportunities that they have you exist, and this is what you have at the moment.”
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