RB Salzburg insist Christoph Freund will stay despite Chelsea pushing for sporting director

RB Salzburg insist Christoph Freund will stay at the club despite Chelsea reportedly closing in on appointing him as sporting director.

Co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali have held talks with Freund and it’s claimed a verbal agreement has been reached to bring him to west London.

Freund would work alongside Kyle Macaulay, the recruitment expert who has followed Graham Potter from Brighton to Chelsea and will play a key role behind the scenes at the club.

However, despite reports of progress being made, Salzburg chief Stephan Reiter was quick to dismiss that when asked if an agreement has been reached.

“I can definitely rule that out, neither Chelsea nor Christoph Freund spoke to me or the club management about something like that,” he told Sky Sport Austria,

“Christoph recently signed a contract with us until 2026, which applies to him as well as to players, managers or coaches.”

Freund has a big reputation, after playing a role in bringing the likes of Erling Haaland, Sadio Mane, Naby Keita and Dayot Upamecano to Salzburg in the past.

Salzburg coach Matthias Jaissle is therefore not shocked to see that there is interest from Chelsea in the sporting director, though insisted those reports are not disrupting the club.

“Of course, I noticed that there were rumours, but that didn’t affect me at all,” Jaissle said.

“He did an outstanding job together with Reiter and took this path here – they’re doing great. It’s logical that absolute world-class teams are interested, but I can’t say what the truth is.”