CHELSEA CONTINUE HUNT FOR DIRECTOR OF FOOTBALL AFTER FREUND DEAL COLLAPSES
RB Salzburg shocked the entire football world last week when they released news that their director of football, Christoph Freund would not be joining Chelsea and will instead remain with the Austrian giant.
Chelsea Football Club have been in search of a director of football ever since Todd Boehly acquired the club in May and according to reports, the Freund acquisition was almost nearing a satisfactory conclusion. Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly has been acting as owner/chairman/interim director of football and it’s reported that he had been in direct talks with Freund since early August when Chelsea made inquiries about 19-year-old forward Benjamin Sesko.
RB Salzburg confirmed on Tuesday last week that they decided to keep Christoph Freund, 45, at the club, canceling the contract agreement that Freund had reached with Chelsea only two days prior. RB Salzburg said in a statement: “FC Red Bull Salzburg has never been contacted by Chelsea to talk about any transfer details regarding Christoph Freund. We expect him to stay.”
“Chelsea was interested in me,” Freund said. “When a big club asks, it is a circumstance that entails personal considerations. But I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m in the best of hands with RB Salzburg and that a change is out of the question for me.”
Freund has been at Salzburg since 2006 and recently signed a four-year contract extension in the summer that will keep him in Salzburg until June 2026. Freund previously held various roles within the organization, earning promotions to become the team’s director of football, and has over the past decade, overseen transfers involving some of the best talents in football, including Erling Haaland, Sadio Mane, Naby Keita, and Dayot Upamecano.
RB Salzburg’s model has always entailed signing talented players young and then selling them when big clubs come calling. As per Football London’s Bobby Vincent, Freund has made an impressive £300 million profit for the club on just transfers alone, the third highest profit margin in the world during that time after Ajax (£358 million) and Benfica (£480 million). A data-centric man, Freund’s acumen and approach to the business side of the game appealed to the new owners who are reported to have been surprised by the lack of data they inherited at Chelsea and the lack of structure to how it’s used.
RB Salzburg chief executive Stephan Reiter said in a statement: “Christoph Freund has been doing excellent work for us for many years and only recently extended his contract until 2026. I can hereby confirm that he will remain sporting director of FC Red Bull Salzburg.”
“Of course, he informed me about Chelsea FC’s interest in him and we exchanged ideas on a personal level and in good conversations. The fact is that he will remain our sporting director. We have not received any inquiries about a possible change.”
Freund’s passion and bold ideas for the sporting director role were reported to have also enchanted the bosses at Chelsea and his emotional bond with Salzburg players was thought to be a good fit with the new Chelsea manager, Graham Potter. Todd Boehly has also previously admitted to admiring the Red Bull model. “We’ve talked about having a multi-club model,” said Boehly. “Red Bull have Salzburg and Leipzig in the Champions League. I want to continue building out the footprint.”
With Freund clearly out of the picture, Chelsea have been forced to look elsewhere and have inquired about the availability of RB Leipzig director Oliver Mintzlaff. “I’m under contract with Leipzig until 2026,” Mintzlaff told Sky in Germany last week when asked about his future. “I will fulfill my contract here with great pleasure. We still have a lot of plans, not only the pitch. I feel comfortable here at Leipzig.”
Reports also claimed that Paris Saint-Germain advisor Luis Campos could also be under consideration for the director role but such a move could prove problematic. Although his role at Paris-based European giants PSG, could be described as freelance in nature, his contract prohibits him from taking on work for a UEFA Champions League rival or a “big club” without express permission from the hierarchy at Paris Saint-Germain. This means that Campos would have to buy himself out of his contract if PSG denies him the opportunity to move to Chelsea, which they almost certainly would.
According to reports, Freund was supposed to take over the reins at the West London club before the international break with Monaco sporting director Paul Mitchell also slated to join as technical director. Many still consider Mitchell an admirer of the London club and could not simply turn down an offer to be the club’s director of football if Chelsea came calling.
Chelsea will also open talks with Bayer Leverkusen’s sporting director, Tim Steidten (43), and Leeds United’s director of football, Victor Orta sometime this week as they continue the recruitment process. Chelsea’s new owners dealt with both Steidten and Orta this summer over Callum Hudson Odoi’s loan move to Leverkusen and the club’s attempt to sign former Leeds winger Raphinha, who instead ended up signing at Barcelona.
While it’s still going to be difficult to pry one of Steidten or Orta from their respective clubs, Chelsea are hell-bent on getting a permanent appointment at the club’s helm before the World Cup in Qatar in November so as to be able to adequately prepare for the January transfer window. With a little under eight weeks to go until the first winter World Cup in history kicks off on November 20th, time is ticking, and no one understands that better than the hierarchy at Chelsea.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: Manfred Werner. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.