Everton are reportedly in talks with former Manchester City and West Ham scout Rob Newman to fill a Head of Recruitment role.
The news would mean a potential departure of Everton’s talented Head of Recruitment Dan Purdy and would see David Moyes team up with Newman once again after working together at West Ham.
Newman is an interesting choice. He comes with a promising CV but like many in his position, suffers from boardroom mix ups and difficulty in identifying exactly which signings he is responsible for while at the club. At West Ham he worked with Moyes but also overlapped with Director of Football Tim Steidten, who was famously banned from the dressing room.
It seems he is a Moyes choice, having played with him at Bristol City, but he also comes with a fantastic CV including a knack for languages. He is fluent in French and Spanish, according to a profile in the Athletic.
A former Manchester City International scout, Newman spent 12 years at the club from 2008 as it transformed itself as one of the biggest spenders in world football. During that time he garnered a reputation as an expert in Brazil and South America.
According to West Ham blog Claret & Hugh: “Newman was brought in by Moyes to oversee a restructuring in recruitment at the club and was widely credited with the scouting of Lucas Paqueta. The former Manchester City scout was also tasked with setting up a scouting network in Brazil to sign talent from South America.”
According to the Athletic, he was key to recruiting Angelino – who scored for Roma in the Europa League this week – Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz, and Mallorca’s Pablo Maffeo. The total outlay was less than £200,000 and City sold the trio for over £40m. He was also key in the signing of defender Aymeric Laporte.
He did have some misses at West Ham in his first tranfer window. Defender Luizao was brought in on a free from Brazil but barely played a game under Moyes, while defender Aguerd and midfielder Flynn Downes are regarded as flops. Danny Ings and Maxwell Cornet are big drains on wages, while Tim Kehrer and Emerson underwhelmed.
Despite his failures at West Ham, Gianlucca Scamacca is a top striker and Newman also identified Borussia Dortmund’s free scoring striker Serhou Guirassy but failed to get the striker over the line.
More importantly. Newman will be able to work with Moyes. In an interview on the West Ham website he said: “What is important, from a recruitment point of view, is that we give him as many options as possible. We find out what type of players he likes in each position, and we scour the world to find those players to put in front of him.“
“We’ve watched them live, we’ve found out about their attitudes and characters off the pitch. So, I think not only are good players and good footballers coming into the Club, they’re good characters as well. Me working very closely with the manager and the Chairman and the Board, it’s worked really well.”
Newman’s South American and international expertise certainly fits a recent Everton scouting overhaul. Outgoing Director of Football Kevin Thelwell introduced two part times scouts to South America last year, while Ole Nielsen has been appointed as Scandinavian scout. The club is also recruiting scouts covering much of Europe in the past six months.