Chelsea want to interview candidates for sporting director role next week

Yesterday we heard that Chelsea’s plans of choosing a new director of football before the World Cup had been dashed by repeated rejections, but today’s news seems to run counter to that.

The Daily Mirror have an exclusive from James Nursey which claims that the club are in fact hoping to interview for the role as soon as next week – with four names still left in the frame.

Leeds’ Victor Orta, Atalanta’s Lee Congerton, Rui Pedro Braz at Benfica, plus of course Sevilla’s Monchi are those named in the piece – although that last one feels like it’s thrown in just because Monchi always has to be thrown in to these conversations.

Tim Steidten seemed to be favourite a couple of days ago, but is mentioned only lower down the list in this piece.

If the interviews are next week, it doesn’t seem impossible at all that the appointment could be made before the World Cup, although a huge amount will depend on the contract situation of each individual candidate.