A fifth candidate for the sporting director role at Chelsea has emerged as Todd Boehly looks to bolster the Blues backroom staff. The American billionaire is in the market for a specialist to join the west Londoners' scouting team, with Paris Saint-Germain advisor Luis Campos, RB Salzburg chief Christoph Freund and former Liverpool director Michael Edwards already heavily linked with moves to Stamford Bridge.
According to The Athletic, Bayer Leverkusen boss Tim Steidten has come under consideration for the sporting director role. Prior to taking the head coach role at the Bundesliga outfit this summer, the 43-year-old was head of scouting at the BayArena.
Previously, Steidten enjoyed spells as a scout, director of football, head of scouting and executive assistant at Werder Bremen, where he is said to overachieved in each position. At Leverkusen, he was responsible for the signings of bright prospects Moussa Diaby, Patrik Schick, Amine Adli, Adam Hlozek and, more recently, Callum Hudson-Odoi.
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At Werden Bremen, Steidten also signed Serge Gnabry, who has grown into one of Europe's leading wingers. The Athletic state that Chelsea want somebody who is both strong in the scouting and data analysis departments, with the German fitting the bill.
Appointing a sporting director vacancy is a part of Boehly's plan to copy the Red Bull and City Group model. Speaking at the SALT Conference in New York on Tuesday, the American billionaire discussed his vision for Chelsea as he looks to move away from the club’s infamous use of loanees.
"We’ve talked about having a multi-club model," Boehly said. "I think there’s different countries where there’s advantages to having a club. Red Bull have Salzburg and Leipzig in the Champions League. I want to continue building out the footprint. I think there’s different countries where there’s advantages to having a club.
"We know people and human capital. We understand game plans and strategies. We’re not expecting to be the football experts to find the best talent, we are going to put those people in place.
"The challenge that Chelsea has, when you have 18, 19, 20-year-old superstars, you can loan them out to clubs, but you put their development in someone else’s hands.
"Our goal is to make sure we can show pathways for our young superstars to get onto the Chelsea pitch while getting them real game time. The way to do that is through another club in a really competitive league in Europe."
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