Every Premier League club’s sporting director and where the power really lays…

They go by a variety of titles but these are the men who carry the clout in the Premier League, the hirers and the firers…

Sporting director, director of football, president of football operations, technical director… the real powerbrokers in the Premier League operate largely in the shadows, leaving the coaches and managers to face all the scrutiny.

To that extent, there will be names on this list you won’t recognise, much less likely are you to be able to pick some out of an identity parade.

But these are the individuals or groups making the big decisions that will dictate the long-term future of every Premier League club…

Arsenal – Andrea Berta
Berta, 54, became sporting director at Arsenal in 2025, taking over from Edu. The Italian’s background was in banking prior to executive roles at Carpenedolo, Parma and Genoa. He then spent 12 years at Atletico Madrid, first as technical director before becoming sporting director in 2017. Berta helped shape Atletico’s squad and is credited with an influence in the signings of the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Rodri and Jan Oblak. The Rojiblancos won two La Liga titles, the Europa League, and reached two Champions League finals under Diego Simeone on Berta’s watch.

Aston Villa – Roberto Olabe
Villa operate a little differently these days in the wake of Monchi’s exit. Owners Wes Edens, Nassef Sawiris and Michael Angelakis have put their faith in the manager, Unai Emery, to build the team around him, rather than place one of their men between themselves and a head coach. Olabe, the former Real Sociedad sporting director, was appointed as president of football operations in late 2025. The 58-year-old played with Emery at La Real, and had a very brief spell as coach before taking executive roles. Olabe is credited with a leading role in establishing Real Sociedad as a force, signing the likes of Alexander Isak and Martin Zubimendi along the way.

Olabe also works in tandem with Damian Vidagany, who Emery brought with him to Villa Park to serve as director of football operations. Vidagany, a former journalist, first encountered Emery at Valencia when the former Vidagany was working in Los Che’s media and marketing sections. According to The Athletic, ‘Vidagany is Emery’s eyes and ears, a bridge between the football and non-football departments and between the dressing room and management.’ Emery, though, is one of few Premier League bosses above whom are only the owners.

Bournemouth – Tiago Pinto
Pinto, 41, served as director of football at Benfica and general manager at Roma before becoming the Cherries’ president of football operations in 2024. He works in tandem with technical director Matt Ritchie who replaced Simon Francis in the summer of 2026.

Brentford – Phil Giles
Giles has been director of football at Brentford for more than a decade, overseeing their ascent to the Premier League. A former Newcastle season-ticket holder with a PhD in statistics, Giles worked with Matthew Benham in the gambling industry before Benham became the Bees’ majority shareholder, steering the club towards a date-driven approach. Giles works with technical director Lee Dykes who oversees the club’s recruitment. Between them all, they’ve worked bloomin’ miracles.

Brighton – Mike Cave
Cave was appointed as sporting director in July 2026, replacing Jason Ayto, who reportedly left the club after less than a year over disagreements around the club’s data-driven model. Cave joined Brighton in November 2022 and previously served as technical director and assistant technical director.

Chelsea – Paul Winstanley
Chelsea’s approach is certainly… unique. Winstanley and Laurence Stewart are the co-sporting directors, though Stewart’s departure is imminent. They head up Chelsea’s five-man sporting leadership team. The others: Joe Shields is sporting director for scouting and talent; Sam Jewell is sporting director for global recruiting; and Dave Fallows arrived from Liverpool in 2025 to lead football development, focusing on scouting and data, loans and player pathways, and overall football staff development. Too many cooks?

Coventry City – Dean Austin
Austin became the Sky Blues sporting director in summer 2026, overseeing all football and recruitment across the club. The ex-Tottenham and Crystal Palace defender joined Coventry as head of recruitment in 2022 after previously working with Spurs, Brighton and Sunderland.

Crystal Palace – Matt Hobbs
Hobbs moved to become Palace’s sporting director in 2025 after three years in the same role at Wolves. At Molineux, Hobbs started in the academy recruitment team, before being promoted to the position of chief scout and head of player recruitment. He left Wolves by mutual consent two months before filling the vacancy at Palace created by Dougie Freedman’s departure.

Everton – leadership team
The Toffees tried the director of football model with Kevin Thelwell but when he departed in 2025, they moved towards a leadership team approach. They hired ex-Man Utd academy manager Nick Cox as technical director; former City Football Group recruitment lead James Smith as director of scouting and recruitment; Chris Howarth, who worked with 14 clubs across Europe through his Insight Sport data consultancy, directs football strategy and analytics; and the vastly-experienced Nick Hammond leads player trading activity.

Fulham – Tony Khan
Son of the club’s owner Shahid Khan, the 44-year-old was first involved with Fulham’s transfer deals in 2016 and became sporting director a year later. He’s a busy boy, having founded All-Elite Wrestling and analytics company TruMedia Networks, all while retaining a role with his father’s NFL franchise.

Hull City – Okan Ozkan
Jared Dublin left in the summer after a breakdown in contract negotiations following promotion. He was replaced as sporting director by Ozkan, a 35-year-old who worked at Fenerbahce as assistant sporting director.

Ipswich Town – Dmitri Halajko
Halajko is Town’s director of football operations after stepping up from the role of academy director in 2025. The 46-year-old was previously sporting director at Colchester United and held roles at Leicester and West Ham.

Leeds United – Adam Underwood
Underwood was at Elland Road for more than a decade before being promoted to sporting director in 2025. He first arrived in 2014 as academy director, then serving as head of football operations from 2023.

Liverpool – Julian Ward
Ward stepped up to the role of sporting director again in September 2026 to replace Richard Hughes. The 45-year-old did the job in 2022/23 before leaving briefly. He returned to the Liverpool stable as FSG’s technical director in 2024 before taking over from Hughes, who departed for Saudi.

Manchester City – Hugo Viana
Ex-Newcastle midfielder Viana was appointed as City’s sporting director in 2024 to take over from Txiki Begiristain. Prior to joining City, the 42-year-old held the same position at Sporting Lisbon.

Manchester United – Jason Wilcox
Ex-Blackburn winger Wilcox stepped into the director of football void left by Dan Ashworth when it the former Newcastle chief’s five-month spell at Old Trafford ended in late 2024. United hired Wilcox, initially as technical director,  from Southampton, where he served as director of football. Prior to that, he was academy director at Manchester City, where he worked alongside Omar Berrada, now United’s CEO. It is not going well.

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Newcastle United – Ross Wilson
Ashworth was initially Newcastle’s sporting director before his acrimonious exit in 2024. Paul Mitchell took over for less than a year before the Magpies hired Ross Wilson as sporting director in October 2025 after prising him away from Nottingham Forest. Wilson has had similar roles at Huddersfield, Southampton and Rangers.

Nottingham Forest – George Syrianos
Edu was out in September 2026 as Forest’s head of global football. His responsibilities were taken up by chief football officer Syrianos assuming his responsibilities. The German-born 36-year-old was previously in charge of recruitment at Stuttgart. He works with technical director Pedro Ferriera.

Sunderland – Florent Ghisolfi
Director of football Ghisolfi leads the Sunderland operation after sporting director Kristjaan Speakman left in February 2026. Ghisolfi was appointed in 2025 after serving as Roma sporting director.

Tottenham Hotspur –  Johan Lange
Sporting director Lange worked alongside Fabio Paratici, the former returning to the club in October 2025 two and a half years after a 30-month ban imposed by the Italian Football Federation forced his resignation as managing director of football. But Paratici joined Fiorentina in February, leaving Lange to it. Lange initially joined Tottenham as technical director in 2023 from Aston Villa having worked in a similar role for FC Copenhagen and, prior to that, had a coaching stint at Wolves.