EXCLUSIVE: Chelsea, Arsenal, Saudis pursue PSG sporting director Luis Campos

Robin Bairner

Updated: 26 Feb 2025 08:24 CST
5 min read

Chelsea and Arsenal both want to sign sporting director Luis Campos — © IMAGO

Chelsea, Arsenal and Saudi Arabia are pushing to hire Luis Campos, The Transfers Podcast understands. Campos' three-year contract as Football Advisor to Paris Saint-Germain expires at the end of the season and he has opened the door to multiple suitors.

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Arsenal's interest has been driven by Mikel Arteta who believes Campos' expertise in recruitment, squad building and organisation can help turn his Premier League title contenders into champions. Arsenal lost Sporting Director Edu to Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis' multi-club group late last year.

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Chelsea's majority owner Clearlake Capital are understood to have held two meetings with Campos to discuss becoming head of football across its own multi-club portfolio, which is due to expand beyond Ligue 1 RC Strasbourg. "Campos is interested in this model of having a head of football or a chief executive of football in multi-club ownership groups such as FSG and Red Bull," said Duncan Castles on the latest The Transfers Podcast.

Saudi Arabia's government has also asked Campos to build a national team capable of unprecedented success at the 2034 World Cup. The ambitious project would involve creating an elite youth academy before establishing a group of young Saudi talents who would compete as a club side in the Saudi Pro League in preparation for the World Cup Finals. The Saudi offer is said to be worth €200 million over 10 years.

Campos' potential availability is a result of stalled contract negotiations at the Parc des Princes. Despite transforming the club from a bloated, star-centric model to a younger, harder-running, team-centred squad since joining in 2022, PSG have yet to satisfy Campos on the terms and conditions of a new deal.

"Paris Saint-Germain want him to stay," said Castles. "They've been in negotiations over a new contract for several months now. What I'm told is that those negotiations have not progressed in the fashion that Luis Campos would like.

"He's been disappointed that having done all of this work, having fulfilled his side of the bargain in terms of what was expected of him coming into PSG, there hasn't been a commitment to him on the terms that he wants to carry on at the club.

"He's opening the door to moving elsewhere at the end of this season because Paris Saint-Germain have failed to conclude terms with him, and we're less than four months away from the end of that contract."

© IMAGO - Luis Campos has received a bumper offer from Saudi Arabia

Campos' record includes building Ligue 1 title-winning teams at AS Monaco and Lille that dethroned PSG, while generating over a billion Euros in transfer fees from player sales.

The former coach's long list of highly successful signings include Kylian Mbappé, Bernardo Silva, Fabinho, Victor Osimhen, Gabriel Magalhães, Sven Botman and Rafael Leão.

"It's that ability to both identify talent very early on - often before analytics show that these guys are the players that the majority of clubs will be chasing - and building an environment around them where they can succeed," says Duncan Castles.

"Which is proven by Monaco winning the French title in 2016-17 from PSG, who had a much, much bigger budget. And Lille winning in 2021, again taking the title off PSG, who had a much greater budget."

© IMAGO - Campos signed Victor Osimhen, here playing for Galatasaray, during his time with Lille

In two and a half seasons at PSG, Campos has overhauled the club, radically reducing the wage bill, changing the squad's age profile and discarding overpaid stars such as Neymar, Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos, creating a squad more suited to the demands of modern football.

In recent weeks Campos has tied key players Vitinha, Nuno Mendes and Achraf Hakimi to new contracts running until 2029, and extended coach Luis Enrique's deal until 2027. There has also been a first professional deal for Ibrahim Mbaye - a 17-year-old forward considered one of France's finest young talents.

PSG remain confident they can resolve the contract impasse. "Paris Saint-Germain say they are calm about this situation," added Castles. "They do want him to stay. They like the way that Enrique, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and Campos are working together. They feel that they can come to a resolution on the contract."