Chelsea’s Todd Boehly era has begun with the arrival of a new sporting chief.
Since Roman Abramovich, the American, took full control of Stamford Bridge earlier this year. There has been a lot of turmoil.
There was a mass clear out of some of the Russian billionaire’s long-serving, and trusted, staff.
Chief among them was Marina GranovskaiaAs a director, he was responsible for transfer negotiations. He has a reputation for being the best in business.
Boehly assumed the chairmanship and interim sporting director role and is now looking for a permanent replacement.
Graham Potter Thomas Tuchel succeeds as Blues bossIt’s a good time to invite someone to join the 47-year-old to build a strong working relationship.
It is almost certain that the sporting director will be Christoph Freund from Red Bull Salzburg.
Blues owners Boehly Eghbali and Behdad Embari are believed to have been impressed by his shrewdness and bold ideas.
Potter was believed to have been asked about Freund’s views before Boehly & Eghbali made a deal.
Potter is said to be ready to work with Freund, with the new Chelsea coach’s backroom staff recruitment specialist Kyle Macaulay heavily involved too.
The 45-year-old did not dismiss links to the Blues, saying: “I’ve had exchanges with Chelsea from time to time.
“We spoke a lot more a month or two ago because they were interested in signing [Benjamin] Sesko.
“The new owners are interested in how we do things with young players, how we integrate them into the first team. Chelsea is a big club in transition. I can’t say exactly what will happen in the next few weeks and months.”
Freund has a reputation for being one of Europe’s top talent spotters, earning Red Bull Salzburg huge profits.
Erling Haaland and Sadio Mene are just a few of the notable players he has scouted to play for the Austrian team.
Freund was a defensive midfielder, but he never played outside of Austria.
He attended the Salzburg youth academy where he lived for six years. That was long before the Red Bull money.
Freund played for several lower-tier clubs before moving into behind-the scenes roles.
When Red Bull took over Salzburg, he became ‘team manager’, which meant he took on a number of organisational tasks.
In 2012, he was promoted to sporting coordinator and in 2015 succeeded Ralf Rangnick. The German then became sporting director.
Freund’s track record as a talent scout and negotiator would no doubt have been a huge draw for Chelsea.
talkSPORT’s European football expert Andy Brassell gave an insight into what sort of person the Blues will be getting.
He told Trans Europe Express: “You look at the players who arrived at Salzburg and who have since moved on; Erling Haaland, Naby Keita, Dayot Upamecano, Sadio Mane, it’s some Chelsea are going to want to do.
“They’ve made a big splash in the transfer market, but going forward appointing Potter says ‘we want to develop, we want to be sustainable’.
“That to me seems important that you’ve got the idea of a coach and sporting director in.
“Ideally the sporting director will outlast the coach, in all normal functioning football clubs.
“It seems as though they will fit together quite well. That’s what you want to do, have a sporting director who fits the philosophy of what you want. The American model of maximising value.”
