Salzburg’s Christoph Freund refuses to rule out move

Red Bull Salzburg director Christoph Freund has refused to rule out joining Chelsea as the Blues continue their search for a new recruitment department.

Chelsea are looking to hire a sporting director as soon as possible, with new owner Todd Boehly doing the job on an interim basis over the summer following the departure of Marina Granovskaia.

Talks have been held with Luis Campos following his impressive work as an advisor to Paris Saint-Germain this summer, while Boehly has also spoken with Freund, who played a vital role in the scouting of current stars like Erling Haaland and Sadio Mane in the Red Bull system.

He was in London for Salzburg’s Champions League match with the Blues on Wednesday, which ended 1-1, and confessed he could not rule out making the move.

“You should never rule anything out in football and Chelsea are such a huge club, but I’m sports director in Salzburg and I really enjoy it,” he told Sky Austria.

“Chelsea is a huge club in transition. I can’t say exactly what will happen in the next few weeks and months.

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Freund also confirmed he held talks with Chelsea in the summer over the potential transfer of Benjamin Sesko – who will remain in the Red Bull system when he moves to Leipzig next summer – and so has already had first-hand experience of the new owner.

“I’ve had exchanges with Chelsea from time to time. We spoke more often a month or two ago because they were interested in Sesko,” he added.

“The new owners are interested in how we do it with young players, how we integrate them into the first team. But you do that again and again with other clubs – that’s it.”