Chelsea have appointed Southampton's Joe Shields as Co-director of Recruitment and Talent as Todd Boehly continues to build his backroom team at Stamford Bridge.
The new Chelsea majority shareholder has been looking to build a team around him in order to achieve his strategic goals and achieve value in the transfer market after becoming the highest-spending club in Europe during the summer.
He has been seeking to fill the void left by Bruce Buck, Marina Granovskaia and Petr Cech after they left the club in the wake of the new ownership in West London. Now, they have settled on Southampton's Shields to join the club, having been impressed with the work done in this summer's transfer market.
READ MORE: Chelsea appoint Joe Shields as Todd Boehly's new co-director of recruitment and talent
In a statement released this morning, Chelsea confirmed the news, having already brought in Laurence Stewart yesterday and Christopher Vivell believed to be close to joining.
In the statement, Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly and co-controlling owner Behdad Eghbali said: "Joe is another great addition to Chelsea, and we're thrilled to have him on board. We have a clear plan and will adopt a modern, and data-driven philosophy focused on elite emerging talent.
"We're assembling a deep and collaborative management team who are eager to build a continued sustained winner at Chelsea. Joe has a great track record and understanding of the game and emerging talent. We know we have another strong leader and a team player who will help us continue to build our world-class football organisation."
Saints were able to secure the signatures of Romeo Lavia from Manchester City and Armel Bella-Kotchap from VfL Bochum in the summer, with Shields' impressive work not having gone unnoticed at St Mary's.
Lavia is believed to have cost Southampton around £12m plus add-ons, and in an example of Shields' eye for talent, Chelsea are reported to have had a £50m bid for the 18-year-old turned down on deadline day - just five Premier League starts into his Southampton career.
Former Fulham and Crystal Palace scout Shields spent nine years in various roles at City before joining Southampton in July 2022. This has sparked anger on the South Coast, and Shields is believed to be taking time over his decision in order to do what is right for him and his family.
His nine years at City brought a number of contacts, with the move to Hampshire resulting in Juan Larios, Sam Edozie and Gavin Bazunu all moving with him.
He was crucial in the development of young stars in his role as academy scouting manager between 2013 and 2018 before taking up a role as Head of Academy Recruitment and Talent Management. In addition to this, his team spotted Jadon Sancho, bringing him to Manchester from Watford in 2015.
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