The Blues are close to reaching an agreement with RB Salzburg Christoph Freund to take over a similar role at Stamford Bridgem claims Fabio Romano. The German in expected to work closely with new head coach Graham Potter.
Freund was one of the names linked with the Chelsea directorial job in recent weeks, alongside Luis Campos (PSG), Michael Edwards (Liverpool), and Paul Mitchell (AS Monaco).
Speaking to Austrian media recently, Freund remained coy on the prospect of him moving to Chelsea in the future, refusing to completely rule out a move.
“You should never rule anything out in football and Chelsea are such a huge club, but I’m sports director in Salzburg and I really enjoy it.
“Chelsea is a huge club in transition. I can’t say exactly what will happen in the next few weeks and months,”
he said.
Freund confirmed that he has held talks with Chelsea in the past, albeit due to their interest in striker RB Salzburg Benjamin Sesko. Furthermore, he claimed that the Blues’ new ownership group took a keen interest in the Salzburg model of buying and integrating young players into the first team.
“I’ve had exchanges with Chelsea from time to time. We spoke more often a month or two ago because they were interested in Sesko.”
“The new owners are interested in how we do it with young players, how we integrate them into the first team. But you do that again and again with other clubs – that’s it,”
he added.
A former player himself, Freund’s career dwindled between the lower divisions of Austrian football before he joined RB Salzburg as the team manager in 2006. He was promoted to the job of sports coordinator in 2012 and sporting director three years later.
Freund is believed to be the man behind several of Salzburg’s famous dealings, bringing in the likes of Erling Haaland, Naby Keita, Dayot Upamecano, Sadio Mane, and others.
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