Chelsea have seen their hopes of landing Christoph Freund all but ended as their search for a sporting director goes on.
The Red Bull Salzburg man had been identified as the sort of individual the Blues wanted working behind the scenes to assist with their recruitment. The sale of the club led to the departure of Marina Granovskaia, one of the world's leading sporting directors, and Technical and Performance Advisor Petr Cech.
New owner Todd Boehly took on her duties and was the main man in transfer negotiations as well as assisting with player identification. Huge sums were spent, but Boehly's lack of experience was cited as an issue as Chelsea battled to get deals over the line and find a striker.
Freund would've bought with him an expertise, but Salzburg chief Stephan Reiter has poured water on the thought of him leaving Austria, insisting no conversations were ever had.
He told Sky Sports Austria: "I can definitely rule that out, 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."
Salzburg's coach Matthias Jaissle is not surprised Freund is attracting interest from other clubs given the work he's done. He said: "Of course, I noticed that there were rumours, but that didn’t affect me at all. He did an outstanding job together with Reiter and took this path here – they’re doing great. It’s logical that absolute world-class teams are interested, but I can’t say what the truth is."
The west Londoners, who have already changed their manager this term, want someone to work with Graham Potter and recruitment guru Kyle Macaulay, who followed Potter from Brighton to the capital.
Chelsea want to appoint a sporting director before the start of the World Cup in Qatar, which kicks-off in November, giving them around nine weeks to find their man, who would then be in place for the January transfer window.
Any appointment though is not imminent, according to the Athletic, with interest in the role thought to be high. Before his sacking Tuchel commented: "It's a very complex situation with sporting directors and which role they have. They are very different in different countries and clubs. It's no secret that I loved to work with Petr [Cech]. It's a big change not to have him, and we're still adapting."
