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My exclusive column, with the latest on the big issues at Chelsea and a near-miss for West Ham in the transfer market.

Why Chelsea have chosen Christoph Freund

So who is Christoph Freund? It’s important to say that Graham Potter approved the move. Why? Because Freund is considered one of the best sporting directors around. He works hard behind the scenes, and he’s turned down many other offers from the Premier League in the last few years.

Freund wanted to be respectful to Salzburg, but he’s told them about the opportunity at Chelsea, and now it’s only a matter of time before it’s done. It’s really imminent.

What Freund did at Salzburg is incredible - they invested in Erling Haaland and he became one of the best strikers in the world. Sadio Mane was also signed by Freund at Salzburg, and we’ve seen what he’s done in Europe in the last few years. Naby Keita was another discovered by Freund. I could mention many others, Patson Daka at Leicester for example. He made more than €500m from player sales - incredible work, it’s not easy to do that kind of work. All these factors made a difference for Chelsea.

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