(Football news) Christopher Freund, the FC Red Bull Salzburg's Head Sports Director is now set to become the Chelsea sporting director. Freund is almost done and is believed to have been released by Salzburg who were keen to keep hold of him. The 45-year-old Austrian was always the top candidate for Chelsea’s vacant Director of Football post and his appointment means that he can start the process of making key personnel changes at the club. Freund was subsequently at Stamford Bridge for Salzburg’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea in the Champions League last week.

Chelsea were without a full-time Sporting Director during this season's summer transfer window, as the fans saw the new American owners spend over £250m on new players. Co-owner and chairman Todd Boehly named himself interim Sporting Director in June after Marina Granovskaia left her role as a director. Petr Cech, Chelsea’s former goalkeeper who later took on a technical advisor role at the club was another to leave after the Boehly-Clearlake Capital takeover from their previous successful owner Roman Abramovich.

Following the conclusion of the market, Chelsea were aiming to secure a new Sporting Director by the start of the World Cup in November and would give new head coach Graham Potter time to think in the winter transfer window. Chelsea are set to be back in action on October 1 when they travel to Crystal Palace in what will be Potter’s first Premier League game in charge since replacing Thomas Tuchel. Freund is a very successful Sporting Director who was behind the arrival of players such as Erling Haaland, Sadio Mané, Naby Keïta and Dayot Upamecano at Salzburg. His talent-spotting and use of data analytics have attracted Chelsea’s attention.

Speaking to Sky Sports Austria, Freund said: “Chelsea is a huge club in transition. I can’t say exactly what will happen in the next few weeks and months. You should never rule anything out in football and Chelsea are such a huge club. But I'm a sports director in Salzburg and I really enjoy it.”

Also read: Dan Axel Zagadou is set to join VFB Stuttgart on a free transfer