Report: Chelsea keeping an eye on Bundesliga sporting director

Chelsea keeping an eye on Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Tim Steidten

According to The Athletic (Subscription Required), Chelsea are keeping an eye on and considering Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Tim Steidten as one of the options to fill their vacant director of football spot.

Steidten, who initially arrived at Leverkusen as a head of scouting in 2019, has worked at Werder Bremen in various roles for 10 years between 2006 and 2016. He is a former player who used to play as a defensive midfielder in Germany.

Though the 43-year-old is not the leading option for Chelsea, he is certainly on the consideration list. RB Salzburg’s Christoph Freund and Paris Saint-Germain’s Luis Campos are the other options.

However, the club’s focus is on hiring a sporting director who is strong in scouting and the data side of things, a condition that rules Campos out of the reckoning.

It does keep Steidten in the race with Freund though, as both are experienced on the scouting side and have incorporated the usage of data in the recruitment and scouting of players in the past.

Steidten became the sporting director of Leverkusen this summer itself, after being promoted from the head of the scouting role. One of his first works was to deal with Chelsea to sign Callum Hudson-Odoi on loan. That move has worked wonders for the German club so far as the player is doing well there.

Chelsea’s aim is to hire a sporting director before the World Cup this winter. Steidten became Leverkusen’s sporting director a couple of months ago. Will he want to leave if an offer from London comes? Well, money talks in football.

It would be interesting in which direction the Blues owners go in this process. Freund is the leading candidate but Steidten has a good pedigree as well.

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The fact that Chelsea’s co-owner Todd Boehly is a fan of the multi-club foundation of the Red Bull and wants to build that here, gives Freund an upper hand.