(Football news) Chelsea and new owner Todd Boehly are set to lose out on their main target for the sporting director position. There was heavy optimism regarding their pursuit of RB Salzburg sporting director Christoph Freund, but the Austrian club put out an official statement on Tuesday confirming that the 47-year-old would be staying. "Christoph Freund has been doing excellent work for us for many years and only recently extended his contract until 2026. I can hereby confirm that he will remain sporting director of FC Red Bull Salzburg".

Reports on Monday suggested Freund verbally agreed to take up the role at Chelsea and Potter was said to have been consulted about Freund as well as Chelsea's recruitment specialist Kyle Macaulay. The Premier League club are very keen on appointing a new sporting director after Boehly took the role in an interim basis over the summer transfer window. However their reported No.1 target Freund, who helped Salzburg bring in players like Erling Haaland, Sadio Mane and Dayot Upamecano, has committed his future to the Austrian club as he will likely play a big part in the Red Bull football scheme of things, overviewing their entire football structure and RB academies. 

Chelsea will now have to look elsewhere to fill the Sporting Director role as Bayer Leverkusen boss Tim Steidten has come under consideration. Prior to taking the head coach role this summer, the 43-year-old was the head of scouting at  BayArena. Steidten has enjoyed spells as a scout, director of football, head of scouting and executive assistant at Werder Bremen, where he overachieved in each position. At Leverkusen, he is responsible for the signings of Moussa Diaby, Patrik Schick, Amine Adli, Adam Hlozek and Callum Hudson-Odoi. 

They even acknowledged Chelsea's interest in Freund but doubled down on their stance. 
"Of course, he informed me about Chelsea FC's interest in him and we exchanged ideas on a personal level and in good conversations. The fact is that he will remain our sporting director!"

Freund also confirmed the interest of the Blues' saying. "Chelsea was interested in me. But I've come to the conclusion that Salzburg is the best place for me. A change is out of the questions” 

Salzburg’s sister club RB Leipzig have announced former Borussia Monchengladbach sporting director Max Eberl will take over in the same role from December. Eberl stepped down from the Gladbach role in January this year as he was exhausted, but he was still under contract with the club until 2026. Leipzig are going to pay a fee of 2.5 million euro to Gladbach to release Eberl from his deal. This is the first time in Germany a release fee has been paid for a sporting director. The Leipzig sporting director post, held by former one-time Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick and has been vacant since the summer of 2021 when Markus Kroesche left to join Eintracht Frankfurt.

Also read: Chelsea appoint Christopher Freund as the new director of football