Chelsea are hoping to bring another key man from Brighton to the club after Graham Potter and his backroom staff joined seven weeks ago. football.london understands talks have been held with Paul Winstanley to join the club’s new-look transfer team. Winstanley worked on transfers at Brighton with Kyle Macaulay, who joined as a recruitment analyst in September.
Potter replaced Thomas Tuchel as manager in September. After doing so, they quickly appointed Macaulay with Bruno Saltor, Ben Roberts, Bjorn Hamberg and Billy Reid with him from Brighton to Cobham.
The group were all influential parts of the Brighton success since Potter took over on the south coast in 2019 and already looks to be great addition to Chelsea. Potter is unbeaten in his first eight games, with five wins and five clean sheets in the process, and faces RB Salzburg for the second time this evening in a bid to secure qualification to the Champions League knockout stages.
READ MORE : Predicted Chelsea team vs FC Salzburg – Kovacic decision made, Potter shakes up the attack
The 47-year-old manager is part of a longer-term plan in place at the club, with new co-owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital at the forefront of an internal structure rejig. Part of that has been the movement of senior director roles, and after a turbulent summer, Boehly is set to make some key appointments.
On top of the expected arrival of RB Leipzig technical director Christopher Vivell, there have been recent reports of Monaco sporting director Laurence Stewart agreeing to join in an unspecified role, Joe Shields, as a head of recruitment from Southampton, is also expected to become a Chelsea employee.
Winstanley has been at Brighton club since 2014 and has seen the club promoted to the Premier League and make a recent surge into the top half of the table.
Potter has already got experience alongside Winstanley, and more so, Macauley and the 43-year-old worked closely together in the recruitment and scouting network at Brighton. The pair created one of the best networks and have a brilliant record of signing young talent, improving players and making money too.
Chelsea paid out £2m for the backroom staff from Brighton and could be forced into a similar deal here in order to secure such an influential figure. Boehly sees each move as an investment for the club moving forward though, and Winstanley's track record reflects well.
One of the signings made was Leandro Trossard from Genk in 2019 under Potter. He has become a target for Chelsea, and Winstanley's move may have an effect on if a deal is possible.
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