Winstanley leaves Brighton to become Chelsea Director of Transfers
Winstanley joined Chelsea in 2014 from Derby County, where he was Head of Analysis
Written by Training Ground Guru — November 15, 2022
PAUL WINSTANLEY has left Brighton after eight years to become Director of Global Talent and Transfers at Chelsea.
The Blues have revamped their recruitment department this summer following the takeover by Chairman Todd Boehly and co-controlling owner Behdad Eghbali in May.
Laurence Stewart arrived from AS Monaco last month to become Chelsea’s Technical Director and will help the club “build a world-class global sporting organisation to consistently win on the pitch” and “provide player pathways to help develop our talent."
Joe Shields joined as Co-Director of Recruitment and Talent after less than four months at Southampton.
Now Winstanley has arrived at Stamford Bridge after eight years with Brighton, latterly as their Head of Recruitment.
He played a major role in finding and developing talent for the Seagulls and worked closely with Graham Potter, who is now Chelsea boss. Winstanley was also behind the initiative of position-specific rather than geographical scouting at Brighton.
He said: “I’m thrilled to be joining Chelsea and to continue working wit Graham Potter and his team. There is a real sense of excitement and momentum around the new ownership and this project.
“I’m looking forward to working with such an outstanding group of colleagues as the club moves into a new era.”
Boehly and Eghbali added: “Paul is going to be a great addition to Chelsea. He’s highly respected and is a key senior addition as we continue to build a world class sporting team with a huge depth of talent, ambition and commitment who will work closely with us to drive Chelsea forward.
“Paul shares our philosophy and will fit seamlessly into the organisation.”
This year Brighton have lost their Technical Director (Dan Ashworth), Head Coach (Potter), assistant coaches (Billy Reid, Bjorn Hamberg, Bruno, Ben Roberts and Kyle Macaulay), Head of Recruitment (Winstanley) and Academy Manager (John Morling).
