Report: Brighton backroom member placed on gardening leave amidst Chelsea links

Brighton transfer guru Paul Winstanley placed on gardening leave amidst talks with Chelsea

According to the Evening Standard, Brighton and Hove Albion’s head of recruitment or transfer guru Paul Winstanley has been placed on gardening leave as talks with Chelsea go on for potential hire.

A few weeks back, Winstanley became one of the prominent names on Chelsea’s radar as they look to add the right people in the transfer department.

Co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali have identified the 43-year-old to add specialist experience to the recruitment department. He also has experience working with Graham Potter at Brighton. They will ultimately hire him.

With Joe Shields, Kyle Macauley and Laurence Stewart already hired by the club, adding Winstanley would complete the team called the ‘transfer think tank’. Talks are going on with Christopher Vivell for the technical director role.

After a bizarre summer transfer window, when Boehly had to step in as a make-shift sporting director to complete the player signings, it is good to see that the owners are now focused on hiring the right people for this job.

We all know how important it is to have a settled and knowledgeable group of people who are making decisions in the club’s recruitment department. Getting the player recruitment right is possibly half the work done towards making the team great.

The current state of the Chelsea squad does offer up an opportunity for reform, be it in January or in the summer. Midfield and forward line are the two areas that could need multiple signings in the near future.

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With Macauley already in the fold and Winstanley to join soon, the Blues have two people who have worked with Potter before and may have a better idea at the start as to what profile of players the manager prefers.