Sources: Chris Perkins quit Tottenham for Arsenal after Hotspur Way snub
Chris Perkins quit Tottenham to join Arsenal last month after being overlooked in key decisions at Hotspur Way, sources have told Football Insider.
The youth-player expert was was emerging talent manager at Spurs but left to take the role of professional development phase scout within the Arsenal academy set-up.
The Gunners agreed a deal with Perkins after he had decided not to accept an offer a return to his former club Everton, who he had left 18 months previously.
The Merseysiders had been keen on Perkins taking on a similar role to his Tottenham position.
It is believed that Perkins had become disillusioned at Spurs amid whispers he did not have a big say in key decisions about young players at the club’s Hotspur Way base.
Tottenham are known in youth-team circles for having a limited budget for luring top teenage talent from rival clubs and are not willing to spend in this area compared to the likes of Chelsea and Man City.
As revealed by Football Insider, they tried to sign Thierry Small from Southampton last month but lost out after refusing to meet the £1.2million asking price.
Spurs offered £800,000 and the left-back, 18, ended up joining St Mirren on loan late on deadline day.
Perkins joined Tottenham in the summer of 2021 charged with bringing the best young talent from the 17 to 21 age bracket into the club’s academy along with academy manager Dean Rastrick.
This following a restructuring of the Spurs youth set-up the previous year when Rastrick took full responsibility following the departure of academy head John McDermott to the Football Association.
Perkins has not only been working closely with Rastrick at Tottenham but also the managing director Fabio Paratici, who oversees the club’s entire football operation.
Tottenham Under-21s are coached by Wayne Burnett, while Stuart Lewis coaches the Under-18s after Matt Taylor quit to become the Walsall manager.
Perkins made a name for himself during his five years as head of academy recruitment at Derby, with a high percentage of players graduating from the club’s youth set-up into the first team.
He moved to Everton in 2020, where he spent a year and eight months as head of academy recruitment.
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