Chelsea win race to land head of recruitment Sam Jewell

Sam Jewell has accepted an offer to join Chelsea following his resignation from Brighton.

The former Seagulls head of recruitment, who is the son of former Premier League manager Paul Jewell, is expected to join the Blues in November after served his notice period at the AMEX.

Brighton confirmed the news on Tuesday morning, announcing that Jewell would commence a period of gardening leave as they thanked him for his 'long service' to the club.

The move comes just 16 months after Chelsea swooped in and appointed Jewell's predecessor, Paul Winstanley, as their Director of Global Talent and Transfers, after an eight-year spell in Sussex.

They have now gone back to the south coast club to take their head of recruitment, with the 34-year-old expected to work a global role involved with various areas of Chelsea's multi-club ownership.

Brighton announced assistant technical director Mike Cave and scouting and intelligence manager George Holmes would take over Jewell's responsivities.

Chelsea's owners have continued to build their backroom team following their takeover in 2022, and they are set to appoint Swansea head of football operations Josh Marsh as loans manager soon.

Jewell joined Brighton in 2016 and has played a key role in the recruitment of a number of stars over the years that have eventually moved on for big money.

It is reported he was key to the signings of Moises Caicedo from Independiente for £4million in 2021, who was eventually sold to Chelsea for £115million two years later.

He also helped bring Alexis Mac Allister to the AMEX, with the World Cup winner arriving from Argentinos Juniors in 2019 before joining Liverpool for £35million in the summer.

He was a reported target for Manchester United, who, if they had their