Chelsea and Todd Boehly confirm latest arrival as Brighton talks continue for transfer ace Paul Winstanley

Chelsea have appointed Joe Shields as the club’s new co-director of recruitment and talent.

Shields, 35, will leave Southampton less than four months after joining them from Manchester City as their head of senior recruitment.

Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly and co-controlling owner Behdad Eghbali told the club’s official website: “We’re assembling a deep and collaborative management team who are eager to build a continued sustained winner at Chelsea.

“Joe has a great track record and understanding of the game and emerging talent. We know we have another strong leader and a team player who will help us continue to build our world-class football organisation.”

Shields spent nine years at Manchester City and left his last role as head of academy recruitment and talent management to join Southampton in July. He had previously worked as a scout in Crystal Palace and Fulham’s academies.

Chelsea confirmed Shields would start his new role “when his obligations with Southampton are complete”.

The Blues remain in talks with Brighton’s head of recruitment Paul Winstanley. Boehly and the club aim to create a new recruitment team for the head coach, Graham Potter, who arrived from Brighton last month to replace previous boss Thomas Tuchel.

Winstanley has an impressive body of work behind him at Brighton, who have made a number of shrewd moves in the transfer market in recent seasons. It was reported last month that Chelsea were keen to bring in Winstanley and have since confirmed their interest. Brighton – as per of their policy if another club shows an interest in their staff – granted Winstanley permission to speak to the Blues.

Chelsea and Brighton have conducted plenty of business of late. Albion’s player of the year Marc Cucurella joined in the previous transfer window for more than £60m, just weeks before Potter confirmed his exit from Albion.

It has not been all one way traffic however as Brighton signed their promising young defender Levi Colwill on loan for the season and also snapped up midfielder Billy Gilmour for £9m late in the summer window.