Chelsea, for their director of recruitment post, is closing in on an agreement with Southampton to appoint Joe Shields. Joe, the head of senior recruitment at Southampton, is highly regarded by Chelsea for his work at Southampton and Manchester City.
In July, Joe joined Southampton, and he was responsible for signing a defensive midfielder, Belgian Roméo Lavia, for £10.5m. At that time, Chelsea had a £50m offer for Lavia, but they rejected it.
Lavia, a young 18-year-old midfielder, was recruited from Man City along with other teenage talents, Sam Edozie, Juan Larios, and goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu.
At Southampton, Joe also made a move for defender Armel Bella-Kotchap and is regarded by Chelsea as a mark of Joe’s suitability. In June, Kotchap was bought from Bochum for about £8.6m and made his Germany debut last month.
Before joining Southampton, Joe worked nine years at Man City in scouting and recruitment for their academy. Moreover, Joe held scouting or recruitment roles at Fulham and Crystal Palace, which shows his experience and ability.
Not only in recruitment, but Chelsea is also making changes to the infrastructure under the ownership of Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly. Chelsea is finding a sports director and is ready to appoint Christopher Vivell as their technical director. German Christopher is previously sacked by RB Leipzig.
Chelsea is considering Norwich’s Stuart Webber as a candidate for sporting director. Stuart has been at Carrow Road since 2013 and previously at Huddersfield, QPR, Liverpool, and Wolves.
