Franco Baldini leaves post as Tottenham technical director

Tottenham technical director Franco Baldini has left the club by mutual consent.

The 54-year-old leaves White Hart Lane after two years, having been hired from Roma in 2013 to oversee the club's player recruitment strategy.

Baldini was responsible for the £110m+ recruitment drive of 2013 that saw seven high-profile players arrive from overseas, only three of which remain and are regulars in the first-team.

Ahead of the £86m sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid, Baldini instigated the signings of Paulinho, Nacer Chadli, Roberto Soldado, Etienne Capoue, Vlad Chiriches, Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela.

But a number of these players struggled to find form in a tumultuous first season that saw then manager Andre Villas-Boas sacked in December before successor Tim Sherwood also departed in the following summer.

Italian Baldini was also instrumental in the first wave of signings under Mauricio Pochettino in 2014, which included the likes of Federico Fazio and Benjamin Stambouli last year.

But Baldini's position was brought under question when Tottenham hired Paul Mitchell, who worked with Pochettino at Southampton, as the club's new head of recruitment in December 2014.

Sky sources understand Baldini was not involved in the club's recruitment program this summer, and was instead responsible for moving on the wealth of talent he hired in 2013.

Baldini successfully offloaded Capoue to Watford, Paulinho to Guangzhou Evergrand, Soldado to Villarreal and Chiriches to Napoli in the most recent transfer window.

Stambouli joined Paris Saint-Germain after just a year at the club while Fazio almost joined West Bromich Albion.