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.
