Chelsea have set their sights on following successful club models used at Manchester City and RB Leipzig with Todd Boehly moving to create a new and sustainable system in place at Stamford Bridge.
The latest move, after gutting the internal structure in place, is not only to start the metamorphosis into a multi-club group but also to put contingency plans in place with sporting advisors, technical directors and a director of football. Although these three roles are basically the same thing, Chelsea and the new owners want more hands involved in creating the new-modernised club system.
At Manchester City, where they took onboard Txiki Begiristain from Barcelona in order to lure Pep Guardiola to the Etihad Stadium, Chelsea have given new manager Graham Potter some level of input into who is appointed at the top of the new footballing hierarchy.
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With a deal breaking down for RB Salzburg's sporting director Christoph Freund, with a massive U-turn taking place after football.london understood he had a verbal agreement with the club, attention has been turned other candidates that have been on the shortlist throughout the process anyway.
Included are Sevilla's sporting director Monchi, Tim Steidten of Bayer Leverkusen, Leeds' Victor Orta, Atalanta scout Lee Congerton and Benfica's Rui Pedro Braz. Chelsea would like someone to fill the void before the World Cup and at the latest in time to have some oversight in the January transfer window.
The latest name to be in with a shot, according to the Evening Standard, is RB Leipzig's Christopher Vivell. The technical director doesn't come as a surprising target for Chelsea, especially after Boehly's previous comments which highlight the Red Bull group specifically.
Speaking at the SALT conference in New York earlier this month, Boehly said: "We have talked about having a multi-club model, I would love to continue to build out the footprint.
"There are different countries where there are advantages to having a club. Red Bull do a really good job, they have got Leipzig and Salzburg, both of which are playing in the Champions League. They have figured out how to make that work. You have Man City, who have a very big network of clubs."
Given the specific reference to Red Bull and the clear admiration for the work done, which focuses on data as well as recruiting young talent and using the multi-club model to have more control over player development, there shouldn't be much surprise to see key figures behind the movement being targeted by Chelsea now.
Although Vivell has only been in place at Leipzig since 2020, as opposed to Freund at Salzburg who has been in his current role for seven years as well as three more years involved in coaching in coordinating, his track record still includes having a defined role in the unearthing of Erling Haaland at Salzburg - where he previously worked.
Chelsea's admiration of the Leipzig director has become even more relevant now with the understanding that star attacker Christopher Nkunku has undergone a medical with Chelsea already ahead of a prospective move next summer. The Frenchman reportedly completed his medical late on in the summer window with football.london understanding that Chelsea have held interest in him for a long time.
Talks over a move went quiet after he signed a two-year contract extension early on in the summer but given his £52.8m release clause, Chelsea have seemingly made progress to make their first signing of 2023 already and talks with Vivell may only increase the likelihood of this deal being pushed through.
Chelsea have already demonstrated their new ability to continue negotiations with the same club in separate deals after doing early ground-work to impress Graham Potter in communications involving the sale of Billy Gilmour, loan of Levi Colwill and signing of Marc Cucurella.
Vivell himself wasn't on board at Leipzig until the season after the German club signed Nkunku from Paris Saint-Germain but he has been in place during a process which has seen the 24-year-old go from scoring five goals in his first season (with 15 assists) to 20 goals and 15 assists last term.
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