sport news Chelsea want Raheem Sterling and Ousmane Dembele trends now
Chelsea have both Ousmane Dembele and Raheem Sterling in their sights, with the club poised for a summer spend of more than £150million as manager Thomas Tuchel revitalises his forward line.
Tuchel sees the Barcelona and Manchester City attacking players as the perfect fit. And heading negotiations will be Chelsea’s new owner Todd Boehly, the interim sporting director and go-to man for player representatives, as the American billionaire takes a surprisingly hands-on approach to the club. He met Jorge Mendes, agent to Cristiano Ronaldo, last week in Portugal in his attempt to get to know all the key players in the European transfer market.
Boehly has replaced Bruce Buck as chairman and taken on the duties of director Marina Granovskaia. Last Wednesday, Boehly met Chelsea academy director Neil Bath in Portugal, as he seeks to understand the detail of running the club.
Raheem Sterling has been identified by Chelsea as one of their major targets this summer
Granovskaia is making the necessary introductions for the new owner but with Roman Abramovich’s closest aide on her way out, Boehly wll have to lean on Tuchel for football advice
Chelsea will appoint a sporting director this year and are expected to go back to Liverpool’s former transfer chief, Michael Edwards, whom they have already approached, as have Manchester United.
Boehly, an advocate of data-led recruitment, would welcome Edwards, as he made that model work at Liverpool.
The England international has fallen down the pecking order at Manchester City and is out of contract next summer
Similarly, Chelsea are likely to see an upgrade on the status of their analytics team under Boehly. The board has considerable experience in the field, with non-executive director Danny Finkelstein an early adopter, having hired Ian Graham, Liverpool’s current director of research, for his newspaper column on football data in 2005.
But for now, the voice of Tuchel and his coaching team will be the most dominant when it comes to football decisions,
