Damien Comolli

Damien Comolli (born 13 December 1972 in Béziers, France) is the Director of Football for Liverpool. He has previously worked as a football coach and scout, with AS Monaco, AS Saint-Étienne, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.^[1] He speaks fluent English, Spanish and French.

He was born in Béziers, France, and played as a youth team player at AS Monaco. In 1992, he began a successful three-year coaching job with Monaco, where he looked after the club's Under-16 squads and won the state championship at that level. Comolli completed a law degree in 1995 and gained his French coaching licence.

In 1996 he joined Arsenal and spent seven seasons as a European scout and is credited with the discovery of several of Arsenal's players such as Kolo Touré, Emmanuel Eboué^[2] and Gaël Clichy.^[3] Between 2004 and 2005 he was technical director of AS Saint-Étienne.^[4] The club went through a successful period, finishing sixth in the league and reaching the semi-finals of the Coupe de France. During his time there he also oversaw a number of important first team signings and developed partnerships with junior and amateur clubs, locally, nationally and internationally.

In 2005 he became Director of Football at Tottenham Hotspur, with overall responsibility for the medical, academy, scouting and club secretarial departments, replacing the outgoing Frank Arnesen.^[2] During his time there he had several disagreements with coach Martin Jol, who, after his departure from Spurs, complained several players had been signed by Comolli without his agreement.^[5] He spent three years in the job but with Tottenham performing poorly in 2008-09 and some of Comolli's signings coming in for criticism,^[6] he was dismissed in October 2008, along with manager Juande Ramos, assistant Gus Poyet and first team coach Marcos Álvarez‎.^[7] During his time at Tottenham, Comolli was responsible for Tottenham's policy of signing some of the world's brightest young talents, bringing players such as Gareth Bale, Alan Hutton, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Giovani dos Santos, Adel Taarabt and Younes Kaboul to the club.^[8] Comolli was also responsible for the signings of current Tottenham first-team squad members Luka Modrić, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Heurelho Gomes, David Bentley (now at West Ham United on loan), Vedran Ćorluka and Roman Pavlyuchenko, as well as Dimitar Berbatov (now at Manchester United).^[9]

On 9 November 2008 it was announced that he would return to Saint-Étienne as sporting director.^[10] His appointment led to the departure of manager Laurent Roussey.^[11]

On 3 November 2010 his appointment as Director of Football Strategy at Liverpool was announced, with part of his remit being to oversee the recruitment of new players to the club.^[12] Comolli made an instant impact at Liverpool as he was responsible for the signings of two young bright talents, Luis Suárez and Andy Carroll, on January 2011's transfer deadline day, with Carroll's signing breaking the record for most expensive British player ever and 8th most expensive player in history, overtaking David Villa and Wayne Rooney.^[13] On 22 March 2011 Comolli was appointed as the Director of Football at Liverpool.^[14][15] In an interview Comolli stated it covers pretty much the whole football side of running the football club, although he does not get involved in team training or selection.

In the summer transfer window for the 2011/12 season Comolli has helped Liverpool FC sign Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam, Stewart Downing, Doni, Jose Enrique, Sebastian Coates and Craig Bellamy.

References

1. ^ Roan, Dan (3 November 2010). "Comolli takes Liverpool position". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/9155544.stm. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Who is Damien Comolli? Tracking down Tottenham's talent hunter". Daily Mail (London). 20 August 2007. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-476526/Who-Damien-Comolli-Tracking-Tottenhams-talent-hunter.html. 
3. ^ Ley, John (20 October 2008). "Tottenham's director of football Damien Comolli needs clear role, says Arsene Wenger". Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/tottenham/3229486/Tottenhams-director-of-football-Damien-Comolli-needs-clear-role-says-Arsene-Wenger-Football.html. Retrieved 30 April 2010. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ Rej, Arindam (16 September 2005). "Spurs bank on 'footballaholic' in the Wenger mould". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2005/sep/16/newsstory.sport4. Retrieved 30 April 2010. 
5. ^ Jacob, Gary (17 May 2008). "Damien Comolli faces questions over future". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/tottenham/article3950212.ece. Retrieved 30 April 2010. 
6. ^ "Transfer frustrations put Comolli's position under threat at Tottenham". The Guardian (London). 4 September 2008. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/sep/04/tottenhamhotspur.premierleague?gusrc=rss&feed=football. Retrieved 30 April 2010. 
7. ^ "Tottenham sack Ramos for Redknapp". BBC News. 26 October 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7691457.stm. Retrieved 2 January 2010. 
8. ^ I'm glad MY side is doing well
9. ^ Gareth Bale earning his Spurs at Tottenham
10. ^ Comolli joins Saint-Etienne as sporting director
11. ^ Saint Etienne sack Roussey
12. ^ Roan, Dan (2010-11-03). "Damien Comolli takes Liverpool position". BBC Sport. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/9155544.stm. Retrieved 2010-11-03. 
13. ^ "Damien Comolli and King Kenny work together". Goal.com. 2011-02-01. http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2011/02/03/2336100/kenny-dalglish-liverpool-owners-have-shown-their-ambition-in. Retrieved 2011-02-01. 
14. ^ "Liverpool's future is bright, insists Damien Comolli". The Guardian. 2010-3-23. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/mar/23/damien-comolli-liverpool. Retrieved 2011-3-23. 
15. ^ "Liverpool appoint Ian Ayre as new managing director". BBC Sport. 2010-3-23. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/9432851.stm. Retrieved 2011-3-23. 

Sporting positions
Preceded by Frank Arnesen	Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Director of Football 2005 – 2008	Succeeded by Position abolished

Persondata
Name	Comolli, Damien
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	13 December 1972
Place of birth	Béziers
Date of death
Place of death