Chelsea news Monday morning...CONTINUE READING
RB Salzburg director Christoph Freund seen after the UEFA Champions League group E match between Chelsea FC and FC Salzburg at Stamford Bridge
Your Chelsea morning digest on Monday, September 19.
Potter blow
Graham Potter might lose one of his key backroom staff members just weeks into his Chelsea career as Anthony Barry is eyed for the vacant Huddersfield Town role.
In a report by Alan Nixon in The Sun, it is said that Barry, who joined Chelsea as a key part of Frank Lampard’s backroom team in 2019, could make his first step into management after the Terriers sacked Danny Schofield following their sixth defeat in eight matches, remaining second bottom in the Championship.
Barry was wanted by Lampard when he went to Everton early this year but remained at Chelsea with Thomas Tuchel, who he also had a good relationship with. Barry was bought in as a set-piece coach initially and has since continued various coaching roles at Chelsea and is one of the few backroom members staying on to help Potter.
Boehly replicates Haaland plan
In a move to appoint a director of football at the club, Todd Boehly has turned to the highly-rated Christoph Freund, currently a sporting director at RB Salzburg.
It has been Boehly’s ambition since buying Chelsea as a co-owner to appoint a football specialist team behind-the-scenes to revamp the structure of the club and Freund is now close to being announced.
It is part of a plan at Chelsea and in the wider ‘multi-club’ vision to sign players that are young and promising. Freund’s current portfolio is impress with names such as Sadio Mane, Kevin Kampl, Marcel Sabitzer, Naby Keita, Dayot Upamecano, Konrad Laimer, Duje Caleta-Car, Takumi Minamino, and most notably Erling Haaland.
Hudson-Odoi interview
Callum Hudson-Odoi has revealed that Todd Boehly went to lengths to ensure that there was no option to buy in the winger’s loan move to Bayer Leverkusen this summer.
“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.”
