Chelsea are in talks to hire RB Salzburg executive Christoph Freund for their vacant sporting director role.
The Blues face Salzburg on Wednesday night and are keen to poach the mastermind who took Erling Haaland before the world’s top clubs.
He would also oversee a potential network of clubs similar to the Red Bull model under the Chelsea brand.
Speaking at the SALT Conference in New York, Todd Boehly discussed his vision for Chelsea as he looks to move away from the club’s extensive use of loanees.
“We’ve talked about having a multi-club model,” Boehly said.
“I think there’s different countries where there’s advantages to having a club. Red Bull have Salzburg and Leipzig in the Champions League. I want to continue building out the footprint. I think there’s different countries where there’s advantages to having a club.
“We know people and human capital. We understand game plans and strategies. We’re not expecting to be the football experts to find the best talent, we are going to put those people in place.
“The challenge that Chelsea has, when you have 18, 19, 20-year-old superstars, you can loan them out to clubs, but you put their development in someone else’s hands.
“Our goal is to make sure we can show pathways for our young superstars to get onto the Chelsea pitch while getting them real game time. The way to do that is through another club in a really competitive league in Europe.”
Chelsea are still considering alternatives including Paris Saint-Germain consultant Luis Campos and ex-Liverpool director Michael Edwards.
They are aiming to make an appointment before the World Cup and it remains to be seen whether Edwards will accept in that time, given he prefers to take a sabbatical.
