Report: Sunderland To Appoint Angeloni As Technical Director

With Roberto De Fanti soon to be confirmed as Sunderland's Director of Football, it appears the next Italian to arrive will be Inter Milan's Chief Scout, Valentino Angeloni. According to Gianluca Di Marzio, who is a journalist and commentator for Sky Sport in Italy, Sunderland want to poach Angeloni for the position as Technical Director and have made Inter Milan an official offer.

Angeloni is a former footballer with over 350 senior appearances to his name. He started his career with Sampdoria before moving to Lazio and it was at Lazio that a serious injury forced his retirement. Angeloni had a spell in management with Italian minnows Solbiatese but it was as a scout that he really made his name. Working with Cremona before becoming Head of Scouting Operations at Torino, it was then at Udinese that he really came to prominence.

For four years he was part of the Pozzi family's technical commission at Udinese and played a big role in the success of the 'Udinese Model'. The blueprint for which has been long admired throughout Europe for scouring smaller leagues around the world for young, talented players who can be bought cheaply but brought on and then sold for a profit.

A few notable examples of which are Alexis Sanchez, David Pizzaro, Vicenzo Iaquinta and former Sunderland pair Sulley Muntari and Asamoah Gyan.

Using this model, Udinese were able to post a profit of €9,000,000 in the 2011/12 season, that's despite having approximately 100 players on their books (although most are loaned out to provide them with valuable playing time).

His success at Udinese led to Inter Milan snapping him up in March 2012 and is also likely to be the reason behind Sunderland's interest.

The position of Technical Director will be a new position at Sunderland but it's likely that Angeloni will be taking over the duties from Pop Robson, who was recently relieved of his role of Chief Scout. Although whether Ellis Short will provide him with a similar sized scouting budget that he received at Udinese, €13,000,000 per year, remains to be seen.

One thing is for sure, Sunderland are serious about overhauling the club from top to bottom and considering the money spent in the last few seasons, as well as the performances on the pitch, this overhaul is long overdue.