Steve Hitchen still in South America


Steve Hitchen still in South America

Steve-Hitchen-still-in-South-America
Steve Hitchen still in South America

Steve Hitchen is still in South America. The Spurs chief scout, as expected watched the all Brazilian second leg of the Copa Libertadores semi-final between Flamengo and Grêmio.

The first-leg finished 1-1 where Hitchen took in the likes of:

  • 23-year-old (24 next August) Inter Milan loanee striker Gabigol
  • 26-year-old (27 next March) striker Luan
  • 21-year-old (22 in December) central midfielder Matheus Henrique
  • 26-year-old (27 next August) defensive midfielder Rodrigo Caio


A report on that below:
Spurs Serious About Signing Brazilian

The second leg finished 5-0 to Flamemho where it is reported Steve Hitchen was also watching 23-year-old (24 next March) right-footed left-sided attacker Éverton Soares.

Barcelona, AC Milan, Manchester United, Manchester City, and Arsenal have been following him and reports from Brazil suggest Grêmio have set a €45m (£m - US$m - AUS$m) price tag on him

Éverton has an €80m (£m - US$m - AUS$m) release clause in his current contract that Grêmio have extended until 2023. Whether they have increased his release fee, as is usual with a pay rise, I'm not sure.

Highly-rated Éverton, as he is generally known, is a full Brazilian international, having scored 3 international goals in 14 games. Eight of those were friendlies and six were in the Copa América, where his three goals were also scored.

His debut was in 2018 against USA:

International Friendlies

  • USA (10 mins)
  • El Salvador (36 mins)
  • Panama (30 mins)
  • Czech Republic (45 mins)
  • Qatar (69 mins)
  • Honduras (1 assist, 24 mins)



  • Group A - Bolivia (1 goal, 9 mins)
  • Group A - Venezuela (18 mins)
  • Group A - Peru (1 goal, 1 assis, 90 mins)
  • Quarter-Final - Paraguay (90 mins)
  • Semi-Final - Argentina (45 mins)
  • Final - Peru (1 goal, 1 assist, 90 mins)

International Friendlies

  • Senegal (31 mins)
  • Nigeria (45 mins)

That's 289 mins in friendlies, the equivalent of 3 games and 19 minutes with 1 assist and 342 minutes in competitive football, the equivalent of 3 games 72 minutes with 3 goals and 2 assists.

Éverton has very good tight control and uses it to cut inside and shoot, something he clearly enjoys doing as he takes plenty of shots,45% of which are on target.

That is a good figure. From memory Gareth Bale hit the target 49% of the time from outside the box when at Spurs.

He has a similar playing style to former Dutch international Arjen Robben.

However, on the minus side is his passing, it is not the best and it is something he needs to work on to be worth the figures being asked for him. A 79% passing accuracy in the opposition half in Serie A in Brazil isn't great. You'd expect higher levels because of the standard and style of football played.

Another area that would need work is his pressing off the ball, an important factor for Pochettino sides. As we are seeing, a falling off in pressing means a falling off in results.

The potential is there so it won't be the last time Hitchen watches him.

COYS