Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is considering bringing in former Barcelona director Ramon Planes to improve the club’s structure and sporting project.
According to a report from the print edition of SPORT, as relayed by Sport Witness, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich intends to appoint former Barcelona director Ramon Planes.
Chelsea have a strong recruitment system in place led by the current director Marina Granovskaia. However, the club’s owner, Abramovich, is intent on bringing in some changes to make the sporting project and the structure even more robust and appealing.
To that end, the Russian oligarch is now considering bringing in Planes in some capacity. The 54-year-old has previously worked in England, having spent a year as the Sporting Director of Tottenham Hotspur between 2014 and 2015.
Planes joined Barcelona in 2018 as the Director of Professional Football and was made the club’s Sporting Director back in 2020. The Spaniard is credited with unearthing young prospects such as Pedri, Ronald Araujo, Abde Ezzalzouli, among many others, all of whom have become first-team regulars at Camp Nou.
Planes brought an end to his stint at Barcelona in November last year, and he is yet to take up a new job. As per the report, the 54-year-old has no shortage of options and is already fielding several offers on the table from various clubs within Spain and the rest of Europe.
The report further adds that it is extremely unlikely that Planes would take up his next assignment in Spain, insisting that a move abroad looks a more realistic possibility. And Chelsea could end up bringing him on board before next season as Abramovich looks to add more quality and footballing acumen to his board.
Given Planes’s track record of finding exciting, young talent in recent years, it could tune well with Chelsea, who, for years, have been known for signing the most promising youth prospects from across the globe.
However, the report states that apart from the reigning European and world champions, another unnamed English club is also in the fray for Planes’s appointment. It is claimed that they have already met the former Barcelona director to explain their project and submit a proposal. Whether Chelsea can beat their rivals to his appointment remains to be seen.
