Chelsea will have a sense of deja vu as they read RB Salzburg's defiant message claiming that sporting director Christoph Freund is staying put in Austria.
It comes despite football.london understanding Chelsea had a verbal agreement with the 45-year-old to take over in the vacant director of football-type role. Todd Boehly has moved quickly since the end of the transfer window to not only sack Thomas Tuchel and bring in Graham Potter but also to make progress on the front of appointing new directors at the club.
It comes amid wholesale changes at Stamford Bridge after the three key directors and executives from Roman Abramovich's reign have all departed within months of the new takeover, leaving a bare cupboard for Boehly to work with.
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This was part of the plan as no time was wasted making fundamental changes but it has made for an explosive start to life in London.
Now, with a deal to get Freund to Chelsea seemingly wrapped up, Salzburg have remained defiant in their stance that Freund isn't joining the Blues, and it has given off a sense of 'we've been here before.'
Managing director Stephan Reiter told Sky Austria on Sunday, September 18: “Neither Chelsea nor Christoph Freund spoke to me or the club management about something like that. Christoph recently signed a contract with us until 2026, which applies to him as well as to players, managers or coaches.”
CBS Sports' Ben Jacobs confirmed the statement with his tweet: 'Salzburg statement to me confirming they expect Christoph Freund to stay, despite their sporting director verbally agreeing to Chelsea.'
'“FC Red Bull Salzburg has never been contacted from Chelsea to talk about any transfer details of Christoph Freund. We expect him to stay.”'
This has since been further cemented by The Athletic's David Ornstein, who states that: "Chelsea’s installation of a sporting director is not imminent and there is a good chance that front-runner Christoph Freund now stays at Red Bull Salzburg.
"Optimism inside Stamford Bridge that a deal for Freund was almost done is believed to have been premature, with Salzburg keen to keep hold of him."
Parallels have been made to the Brighton statement issued amid Marc Cucurella's transfer to Chelsea this summer. The deal was reported as complete and all but a formality with football.london understanding that Cucurella was a Chelsea player in principle, only to have the Seagulls official account rebuff this with a statement claiming no such deal was in place.
Days later and the 24-year-old joined Chelsea. Little did he know at the time, the Spaniard would be linking up with former manager Potter a lot sooner than anyone expected.
Although, as seen with Cucurella, something could be further down the line than is being reported, Chelsea will be anxious to sort out as much of their structure as is possible. With the chance of having multiple advisors in similar positions it does leave Freund open to remaining at Salzburg but acting for Chelsea on occasion, just as former Liverpool director Michael Edwards has been asked to do as well.
Paris Saint-Germain's own advisor Luis Campos is in the same position and all still remain on the shortlist for Chelsea who want a team of people working in tandem with Potter on the recruitment, planning and transfer front. For now though, Potter is left waiting for an official appointment whilst those that remember the Cucurella deal might have a feeling that this is more advanced than appears to be.
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