Chelsea had hoped to appoint Christoph Freund as the new sporting director of the club, but that move didn’t work out alright, as the 47-year-old eventually chose to remain at RB Leipzig.

The Blues are seeking to restructure the club at board level under Todd Boehly, and the new owners are seeking a new sporting director to work with new manager Graham Potter.

According to reports, Chelsea are now planning fresh talks with Tim Steidten to take over the vacant Sporting Director role at Stamford Bridge.

The 43-year-old comes highly rated in Germany. He was appointed as Bayer Leverkusen’s squad planner in 2019 and was eventually  promoted to the club’s sporting director last summer after a fine job.

Tim Steidten comes highly-rated due to his data analysis, which led the German Bundesliga side into the season-long signing of Callum Hudson-Odoi last summer.

If appointed, Tim Steidten would be expected to work with Graham Potter alongside recruitment analyst Kyle Macaulay, to identify targets in areas of the squad that need strengthening.