Postecoglou keen to recruit the right ‘people’ rather than ‘players’

Ange Postecoglou admits he does not only look at a player’s football ability when recruiting for his squad.

Tottenham have brought in a number of new faces this summer, including 18-year-olds Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall, as well as Dominic Solanke, Wilson Odobert and Min-hyuk Yang.

And some may be in line to make their competitive debuts when Spurs travel to Leicester for Monday Night Football.

But the Australian boss says he looks into more than just the talents of the people he is trying to sign.

Speaking ahead of the Foxes clash, he said: “It’s an important part of the process and I think it comes back to what I’ve often said – part of recruiting is understanding you’re not recruiting footballers, you’re recruiting people.

“What kind of person are they? Why do they want to come to Tottenham? Are they ambitious? Do they have an open mind? Are they prepared to take on the enormous challenge of creating something special at the club that has that success?

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“All these kinds of things, and hopefully the stuff that they’ve already identified so that when they come here they feel like it’s the right place for them.

“Hopefully they walk into a dressing room of like-minded individuals who all have that kind of mindset. That helps them then visualise what we’re trying to build.

“It’s probably an easier process for guys, new players coming in this year because they walk into a dressing room and the guys will have absolute clarity and give them absolute clarity of what they’re all trying to do.

“Whereas last year it was more about me trying to create that environment, me trying to paint those pictures to everyone, not just the players and staff, but everyone at the football club. Hopefully this year, for the guys we’ve brought in so far, they walk into a dressing room and they can feel exactly what we’re trying to do.”

Postecoglou has recently suspended Yves Bissouma after the midfielder was caught inhaling illegal laughing gas on social media.

The head coach said he can work his way back into the squad but emphasised that he only wants people with the right attitude and mentality playing for him.

Bissouma’s misdemeanour is a prime example of why Postecoglou likes to assess each new player as a person before bringing them in.