are reportedly close to hiring Joe Shields as their new director of recruitment, just a few months after he joined Southampton.
Blues owner Todd Boehly has been on the hunt for a new director to oversee transfers, after letting go of many of the previous board members who served under Roman Abramovich, including Marina Granovskaia and Petr Cech.
And after a failed pursuit of former Liverpool chief Michael Edwards, it appears that Boehly has found his man, with various sources claiming that Chelsea are close to agreeing a deal with Shields.
Shields only arrived at Southampton in July, following an impressive nine-year spell at , where he earned a great reputation with the Citizens’ scouting and recruitment department.
Over the summer, the Saints signed four young City stars, namely Romeo Lavia, Juan Larios, Sam Edozie and Gavin Bazunu.
Lavia was the most notable addition and made such a good initial impact at St. Mary’s, that Chelsea attempted to buy him on deadline day for a reported £50million.
Shields was the architect behind the quartet of signings, and Boehly and co. were so impressed that they made him their No.1 target for recruitment director.
However, Southampton have unsurprisingly been angered by the way the saga has been handled and will force Chelsea to wait six months for Shields as per the notice period in his contract.
In addition to Shields, two more directors are being eyed up by Boehly, with Christopher Vivell set to be appointed as technical director after being sacked by RB Leipzig last week.
Norwich’s Stuart Webber is also in the running for sporting director.
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