Joe Shields finally starts work as Co-Director of Recruitment and Talent at Chelsea — report

Joe Shields was officially announced by Chelsea as an incoming “Co-Director of Recruitment and Talent” way back at the end of October, but only now has he finally started in this role, as reported by The Athletic yesterday. And not a moment too soon, in the last 48 hours of the winter transfer window!

Following that initial announcement, Shields was reportedly put on a six-month gardening leave by Southampton, but as it turns out, he actually continued to work through his notice, and was set to continue doing so for another three months. But Chelsea evidently managed to agree some sort of compensation to get Shields out early, thanks in part to Shields “maintaining great relations with Southampton’s staff” despite the “initial frustration felt towards his hasty departure”.

So, it sounds like everyone handled this fairly professionally, all things considered, and Southampton weren’t left in too big of a bind given that Shields agreed to join Chelsea just three months after arriving there. But now he’s here, and our new-look recruitment team is just about complete. (Just waiting for Laurence Stewart now, due from Monaco shortly.)

Plenty of work to do, now that our Master Plan For Global Domination By Ruining Football™ is well underway!