Chelsea are reportedly close to finalising their new-look recruitment team.
Chair Todd Boehly's consortium purchased the Blues from previous owner Roman Abramovich in May and has spent the last five months making wholesale changes to the club's football operations team. The biggest of all changes was replacing Champions League-winning manager Thomas Tuchel with promising Brighton coach Graham Potter.
Boehly took charge of Chelsea's transfer business in the summer - splashing more than £250million on fresh talent - but a new recruitment team is now on the verge of being installed. It's believed Christopher Vivell will become their new technical director shortly.
Viviell will have four other administrators working under him. As reported by The Guardian, Joe Shields will become co-director of recruitment, while Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart are also poised to move to Stamford Bridge. The final member of the five-man recruitment team is Kyle Macaulay, who has already been appointed by Chelsea.
But what have these five men achieved during their respective careers? Mirror Football takes an in-depth look at Chelsea's new recruitment team to answer that question.
Christopher Vivell
At 35, Vivell might be young but his CV is very impressive. The German, who played at semi-professional level, worked his way up Hoffenheim's ranks during a five-year spell before joining Red Bull Salzburg as their head of scouting in November 2015.
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Under Vivell's leadership, Salzburg signed the likes of Patson Daka, Enock Mwepu - who recently retired due to a hereditary heart condition - and Erling Haaland. The latter's name is enough to excite Chelsea fans, considering his 17 Premier League goals this term.
Vivell joined Salzburg's sister club RB Leipzig as their technical director in August 2020 and continued his good work, bringing in the likes of Andre Silva, Brian Brobbey and Josko Gvardiol. He left Leipzig earlier this month amid rumours of Chelsea's interest.
Joe Shields
Shields is poised to make a surprise move to Chelsea - just three months after becoming Southampton's head of recruitment. The scout has more than a decade of experience under his belt following spells at Crystal Palace, Fulham and Manchester City.
He made a name for himself at the latter club, working his way up through the scouting ranks during a nine-year stint. Shields rebuilt Southampton's squad in the summer, bringing in the likes of Romeo Lavia, Joe Aribo, Duje Caleta-Car and Gavin Bazunu.
Laurence Stewart
Monaco's technical director is on the verge of joining Vivell and Shields at Stamford Bridge. Stewart has been in charge of the French club's transfer business since June 2021 and signed the likes of Breel Embolo, Takumi Minamino and Malang Sarr.
Stewart joined Monaco as their head of recruitment and development in June 2020 before earning a promotion and has previously worked as the global head of scouting at Red Bull alongside Vivell. He's also worked for Everton, Man City, Hull City and the FA.
Kyle Macaulay
Macaulay joined Chelsea alongside Potter last month. The 36-year-old has worked with the English manager for more than a decade. He was his chief analyst at Ostersund between June 2012 and June 2018 before following the manager to Swansea.
Macaulay held the position of chief scout at the Liberty and remained part of Potter's team when he joined Brighton in May 2019 - becoming their head of scouting. His role at Chelsea is to act as a conduit between the recruitment team and Potter's backroom staff.
Paul Winstanley
Last but not least is Winstanley, who's been Brighton's head of recruitment since January 2015 after spells at Derby and Wigan. Winstanley oversaw the Seagulls' promotion to the Premier League in May 2017 and their subsequent success at that level.
The Brighton chief's signings include Marc Cucurella, Danny Welbeck, Moises Caicedo, Adam Lallana, Leandro Trossard, Tariq Lamptey, Neal Maupay, Alexis Mac Allister, Dan Burn, Pascal Gross and Billy Gilmour - with some of those coming under Potter.
