Leeds United transfer guru Nick Hammond has been linked with a move to Everton
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Updated 11:19, 28 Mar 2025
Leeds United adviser Nick Hammond is being linked with Everton
Leeds United adviser Nick Hammond is being linked with Everton
Nick Hammond is being linked with a potential move to Everton. But who is the Leeds United transfer guru?
The Athletic’s Patrick Boyland reported that he expects there to be a different recruitment structure going forward in which departing director of football Kevin Thelwell’s responsibilities are divided among three or four people.
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He said: “On the rung below new chief executive Angus Kinnear, you’ll likely have Moyes as manager and then heads of player identification, trading/negotiation, football operations and strategy/analytics. There will probably be a mix of internal and external hires.
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“Head of recruitment Dan Purdy could, for example, fulfil the player ID role. At Leeds United, trading/negotiating was done by a freelance consultant, Nick Hammond, who is highly regarded by Angus Kinnear from their time together at Elland Road. He is in the frame for a similar role with Everton.
“Recruitment firm Nolan Partners has also helped with the search for a new director of football operations, with a director of strategy and analytics also to be appointed. The aim is to have all key pillars in place by the end of the season.”
Born in Hornchurch, some 15 miles to the north east of central London, on September 7, 1967, Hammond is a former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Starting as an apprentice at Arsenal, he was unable to break into the Gunners’ first team in the late 1980s and made his senior debut on loan at Bristol Rovers while also being farmed out to Peterborough United and Aberdeen.
Hammond’s most prolonged spell of first team football came with Swindon Town after joining them on a free transfer in July 1987. Despite breaking his leg twice while with the Robins, prompting him to request the number 23 squad number for the club’s only Premier League season in 1993/94, rather than the ‘unlucky’ 13.
With Glenn Hoddle, the player-manager who guided Swindon to promotion having departed for Chelsea, Hammond was one of four keepers. Along with Fraser Digby, Jon Sheffield and Paul Heald, used by manager John Gorman that term as the rock-bottom Robins conceded 100 goals.
Nick Hammond with his man of the match awards after Reading's 1-1 draw with Cardiff City in an FA Cup tie at Elm Park on 3 February 1998
Nick Hammond with his man of the match awards after Reading's 1-1 draw with Cardiff City in an FA Cup tie at Elm Park on 3 February 1998
He made 13 appearances that season, including one at Goodison Park. Facing Everton in Mike Walker’s first Premier League game in charge, Hammond was beaten half a dozen times in a 6-2 defeat that proved something of a false dawn for the former Norwich City manager at the Blues with Tony Cottee netting his sixth and last hat-trick for the club (the most since Dixie Dean). After 67 outings for Swindon, Hammond then had a short spell with Plymouth Argyle before finishing his career with Reading, where he became Alan Pardew’s goalkeeping coach after retiring from playing due to a back injury.
In October 2000, he replaced John Stephenson as Reading’s youth academy direction and then became the Royals’ first director of football in September 2003. Hammond’s 20-year association with the Berkshire outfit ended in April 2016 as he became technical director at West Bromwich Albion.
Following his earlier stint at Pittodrie, Hammond went north of the border again in June 2019 to join Glasgow giants Celtic in a recruitment consultancy role and in October that year he was named head of football operations. He moved into the Premier League in December 2021 as Newcastle United’s interim transfer consultant and followed Leeds United’s relegation, he became the Yorkshire club’s ‘interim football advisor.’
Although this was initially a short-term contract to ‘help support the club during the summer transfer window’, in November it was confirmed Hammond would be staying on as a transfer consultant.