Chelsea set to appoint new technical director - but hunt for new sporting director rumbles on

Chelsea’s race to fill their recruitment department before the next transfer window rumbles on, with the club edging closer to appointing a new technical director. According to the Daily Mail, the London club are set to confirm the signing of Christopher Vivell as their new technical director, who left his post at RB Leipzig on Friday afternoon after two years at the club. The Bundesliga side stated that his departure was due to “differing views”. 

A lot has changed at Chelsea over the course of 2022. The club was bought over by a new owner, when Roman Abramovich was forced to sell his stake in the Premier League side and duly handed over the reins to Todd Boehly. In that time the club have also seen their former sporting director and technical director leave, as well as head coach Thomas Tuchel getting the sack towards the start of this season. 

The club had hoped to hire Red Bull Salzburg sporting director Christoph Freund last month, but the Austrian opted to stay put at the last moment, publicly stating through the club that he had never considered leaving to make the move to London. According to CBS Sport, this has proved to be quite the setback for Chelsea, who are now speaking to multiple candidates to fill the open position. 

The US broadcaster understand that Victor Orta at Leeds United and Michael Edwards, who recently left Liverpool after six year as sporting director at Anfield in the summer, are the main contenders, but there’s now a growing sense that Boehly, who personally negotiated many of the club’s seven major signings in the summer transfer window, may stay on as de facto sporting director beyond the January window.