I was managing non-league players a year ago but now I coach £100m Man Utd transfer target who’s already a world star

IT is a mark of David Webb’s unconventional career that this time last year he was managing non-league players at York and now he is coaching £100million-rated Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

Webb has experienced nearly every job going in football at all different levels, from Spurs’ talent-spotter, to Ostersunds technical director to his stint as boss at Bootham Crescent.

Kenny Ramsay

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is Georgia’s star player[/caption]

Reuters

Napoli star lifts the Serie A trophy last season[/caption]

The Georgian has been nicknamed ‘Kvaradona’ by adoring Napoli fansRex

Now he has added a new string to his bow by venturing into the international game as assistant to Georgia chief Willy Sagnol.

And that has seen him get to know Napoli’s Ballon d’Or nominee Kvaratskhelia, 22, who has a host of top teams tracking him including Manchester United, Liverpool and Newcastle.

On the short-socked winger, affectionately nicknamed ‘Kvaradona’ after Napoli legend Diego Maradona, Webb told SunSport: “He’s a special talent.

“A very humble guy, quite quiet in training but very serious in his work.

“I do a lot of one-to-ones with the players and spoke to him in the October camp. I found him very level-headed, very focused and knows exactly where he wants to go in his career.

“He would be suited to the Premier League as he has that natural athleticism and speed which you need to play there.

“He can play on the left, the right, at Georgia we play him as a second striker. If you look at the top teams like City and Liverpool, he has that sort of ceiling of potential.

“He will cost a lot of money because of his age and his profile. He’s still only 22. He’s definitely within the top 15 players in the world.

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“When you’ve got him, and the goalkeeper (Giorgi Mamardashvili) as well at Valencia as well who has the potential to go higher, and the rest are still at a very good level playing at good clubs in Europe, it gives Georgia a chance.”

So how did Webb, who grew up in South London, end up coaching one of the world’s most exciting talents in a country on the far side of Europe not exactly famed for its footballing prowess?

It began when he bumped into former Bayern Munich full-back Sagnol at a game in France in the 2014-15 season.

Sagnol had just taken the Bordeaux job and Webb was working for Bournemouth as head of first-team recruitment, shortly before he moved to Tottenham in another scouting role.

The pair started chatting and got on so well that they stayed in contact to the point where nine years later, Sagnol asked Webb in August to assist him with Georgia.

Webb added: “I liked him as soon as I met him. I knew who he was because he’d had a very strong playing career. We’d always have quite long phone calls on the phone.

Not known, clear with picture desk

David Webb has had a varied career, and is now Georgia No2[/caption]

“We spoke a lot about French football compared to English, we spoke about development of young players, we spoke about management and philosophy. We just kept it going.

“Our dynamic is really good because he recognises there are certain skills I can bring.

“He appreciates my scouting background and thinks it helps give you a certain type of analysis when you are watching players.”

On Thursday they host Steve Clarke’s Scotland, followed by Spain on Sunday, both of which have already qualified for next summer’s Euros in Germany.

But because they won their Nations League group, Georgia have already made the play-offs so Sagnol and Webb still have a chance of taking them to their first ever major tournament.

It would be one of Webb’s proudest achievements – though it could have been so different for the former Crystal Palace youth player had he appointed a certain Ange Postecoglou when Huddersfield’s director of football in 2019.

Webb interviewed the current Tottenham chief for the head coach role back then when the Aussie was still with Japanese side Yokohama Marinos – but the Terriers eventually plumped for Danny Cowley.

Webb recalled: “We had a couple of long-distance phone calls. I spoke to him and really liked him as a person.

“He was someone who I felt would have fit Huddersfield really well because of his values and I liked the way he played.

“I like authenticity and he was just himself. This is me, this is how I am, this is how I play, this is what I do. He’d done his homework on the Huddersfield squad.

“But where he was situated, we couldn’t move quick enough to get him over the line where we needed it to be.”