Chelsea are seeking a deal to appoint Southampton’s Joe Shields as recruiting director, Fabrizio Romano.
Shields is “highly regarded” through the Blues for his paintings at St Mary’s and with Manchester City.
While the effects in the frame haven’t been wonderful for the Saints this season, they’ve had a very bright summer movement window.
Armel Bella-Kotchap and Romeo Lavia performed very well, and Chelsea reportedly made a £50 million offer to sign the latter on the day of the deadline, even though he had just joined Southampton.
Bella-Kotchap made her debut in Germany last month after her impressive start to the season. The 20-year-old defender joined Bochum for around £9 million in July.
Shields brought Joe Aribo to the Rangers for a measly £6 million and signed teenagers Sam Edozie and Juan Larios from Manchester City.
Lavia is also from the Premier League champions, as is 20-year-old goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu, who established himself as the club’s No. 1 Ralph Hasenhuttl.
Shields spent years with City before joining Southampton in July.
Although he joined the South Coast club in the summer, Fabrizio Romano has announced he will be moving.
Romano showed on Twitter that Chelsea was “close” to reaching an agreement with Santos.
He wrote: “Chelsea is definitive in dealing with Southampton to appoint Joe Shields as their new recruiting director.
“Huge club owners, as Shields is very well looked after after his top-level drawback with Southampton and Man City, finding a lot of talent. “
Shields lately works as a senior scouting manager for the Saints.
Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly’s recruiting team will be complete with the addition of Shields, Romano told The Guardian.
Boehly has much of the infrastructure of Stamford Bridge since he and Clearlake Capital bought the club from Roman Abramovich.
Chelsea are “on the verge” of appointing Christopher Vivell as manager following his dismissal by RB Leipzig.
Boehly and company. They are also ahead of the appointment of a new sporting director.
The American businessman had assured the interim Chelsea sporting director the summer transfer window.
The Blues were eager to bring in RB Salzburg manager Christoph Freund, however the Austrian refused to join the Premier League giants.
News of Chelsea’s interest also brought a Romano exclusive here, so it remains to be seen if Lightning moves twice and Shields changes his mind.
Freund showed his preference for Salzburg last month.
He said: “As I showed in interviews, Chelsea FC were interested in me.
“When such a big club asks for it, it only honours me and the FC Red Bull Salzburg cadres, but of course it is also a circumstance that these are not public considerations.
“But I have come to the conclusion that I am in good hands with FC Red Bull Salzburg and that a replacement is out of my reach. “
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