Christoph Freund has much to do if he is appointed Chelsea's new sporting director very soon. Todd Boehly has made it his task to employ a new sporting director after his time as the interim was heavily criticised during the summer transfer window by Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher and others.
Initially, football.london understood that the plan was to bring former Liverpool guru Michael Edwards in before January but their early attempts were rebuffed as Julian Ward's predecessor at Anfield remained adamant that he wanted to take some time away from the game.
This all culminated in focus needing to be shifted elsewhere and amid links to the likes of Paul Mitchell, Luis Campos and others, the Blues have now settled on RB Salzburg's Freund as their top target.
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football.london understands that talks with Freund started one month ago and a deal has been agreed between the club and Freund's representatives themselves but the Austrian Champions are now the only stumbling block that remains in the way of this potential switch going through any time soon. And by a recent admission, Boehly still has some work to do to get his man.
RB Salzburg director Stephan Reiter told Sky Austria: "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."
With the deal still expected to be announced to allow him to exit his current contract which runs until 2026, football.london previews the three main pressing issues he will have to contend with in the early days of his reign.
Sign a long-term striker to spearhead the attack
This has been an issue since the latter days of the Roman Abramovich era.
Marina Granovskaia had thought she solved this problem with the £97.5million acquisition of Romelu Lukaku but for whatever reason, it didn't work out on his Stamford Bridge homecoming and he is currently on loan at Inter Milan where he is expected to stay for the 2023/24 season as well, with discussions already in the works over a second loan spell.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been signed on a three-year deal but he is not expected to be part of the long-term fabric of this Chelsea team, instead operating as more of a transitional purchase to give Freund and Chelsea time to seek out their long-term option. Kai Havertz is starting to run out of time to prove himself, whilst Armando Broja has a little more time on his side.
With this all in mind, it's no surprise to see the likes of Rafael Leão and Benjamin Sesko continually being linked to a future transfer to Chelsea. Both names are certainly ones to keep a note of.
Dealing with the midfield uncertainty
With talks ongoing with Mason Mount for a new long-term deal, certain members of the midfield are not progressing well in talks with two players, in particular, expected to see their deals expire at the end of the 2022/23 season.
N'Golo Kante and Jorginho are currently set to leave as free agents amid the latest Athletic update. Does Freund try and keep one of the pair or let both go for pastures new? If he was to do the latter, there are various clubs across Europe who would be interested in taking a chance on the serial winning midfielders.
How about Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Conor Gallagher? Both may seek new opportunities in the summer amid concerns about lack of game time. The only certainty going into 2023/24 is that the ever-reliable Mateo Kovacic is likely to form the bedrock of the midfield. Who will be lining up alongside him remains unknown. Does Freund rely on internal candidates like Cesare Casadei and Carney Chukwuemeka to make the step up or does he turn to the transfer market for solutions?
All will be found out soon in that regard.
What about the loanees?
The likes of Malang Sarr, Callum Hudson-Odoi and others had sought out more regular first-team opportunities for 2022/23 as none were expected to play big roles under Thomas Tuchel.
However, with Potter now in charge, more of the fringe players could be afforded redemption opportunities in the future with Boehly telling the current Bayer Leverkusen man that he could still have a future in West London if he was to work hard and apply himself.
"It's definitely different," Hudson-Odoi said. "When a club is trying to get a player [on loan], they always want that option to buy at the end of the season. Todd was saying: 'Listen, we want you back here.'
"You're still on the radar of being wanted by the club. The way he's trying to set it up, there are a lot of young players he's trying to buy for the next few years. It shows he wants to integrate the players into the team and help them develop."
Freund will certainly have to manage the loan conveyor belt as Boehly and the new ownership group look to not only make money when necessary but to also spot the long-term talents that will form the make-up of the first team.
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