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Chelsea were active in the summer window and their owner, Todd Boehly, acted as their interim sporting director.

After the last transfer window closed, the west London club were looking to appoint a new director of football. Their search came to an end when the Blues confirmed last month that Laurence Stewart will be joining them as their new technical director.

Prior to confirming Stewart’s appointment, Chelsea were keen on hiring Red Bull Salzburg chief Christoph Freund.

The Austrian champions’ director of football was repeatedly named as a target for the Premier League side in September. These links saw him quizzed about the possibility of moving to London.

Red Bull Salzburg managing director Stephan Reiter had also publicly ruled out a move to Chelsea for Freund, who had signed a contract with them until 2026.

Freund has now opened up about the proposal he received from the English club when he appeared as a guest on Sky Sport Austria’s program, ‘Talk & Tore’.

“It was very special, something like that doesn’t happen every day and it was a great honour. But the overall situation was not like that. I signed a long-term contract with Salzburg a few months earlier and those are values ​​that are important to me,” he said, as quoted by 90Minuten.