Christoph Freund responds to Chelsea sporting director rumours
Karan Tejwani
- 15 Sept 2022 14:15 BST
- 3 min read
Chelsea are following a new sporting strategy following the sacking of Thomas Tuchel and appointment of Graham Potter as head coach last week.
The Blues came under new ownership earlier in the year, led by American businessman Todd Boehly, and they were the biggest spenders of the transfer window, setting an all-time record for spending by a single club.
The sacking of Tuchel came as a surprise this early in the season, especially seeing as it came just a week after the transfer window close and there was so much turnover in the squad.
With Potter now in, Boehly wants to get in a new Sporting Director, having acted as one all summer during the transfer window, and they’ve got one target in mind.
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Freund coy on Chelsea links
That is Red Bull Salzburg’s Christoph Freund, the transfer guru who has overseen the Austrian club’s rise within European football in recent years.
Freund has been Salzburg’s Sporting Director since 2015, and has unearthed stars like Erling Haaland, Benjamin Sesko, Patson Daka, Karim Adeyemi, Konrad Laimer, Dayot Upamecano and more.
In that time, the club have been quite successful as well, continuing their domination in Austria while also reaching a Europa League semi-final in 2019 and Champions League last 16 in 2021.
Christoph Freund at Stamford Bridge. Salzburg's sporting director in advanced talks with #CFC to take on a similar role. Graham Potter expected to speak with him over the coming days. Todd Boehly likes his data-driven background and the fact he's worked within a multi-club model. pic.twitter.com/rkiQPPzK9C
— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) September 14, 2022
Freund was asked about Chelsea’s interest in him by Sky Sport Austria, to which he refused to deny a move and didn’t give much indication of what would happen in the coming weeks.
He said: “You should never rule anything out & Chelsea are such a huge club. I'm sports director in Salzburg & I really enjoy it. Chelsea is a huge club in transition. I can't say exactly what will happen in the next few weeks & months.
"The new owners are interested in how we do things with young players, how we integrate them into the first team. But you have those [conversations] again and again with other clubs, that’s it."
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