Chelsea sign Brighton transfer guru just 15 months after hiring his predecessor

20 February 2024 , 10:40

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Brighton's head of recruitment Sam Jewell has accepted a new position at Chelsea (Image: @BHAFC)

Brighton's head of recruitment Sam Jewell has accepted a new position at Chelsea and been placed on gardening leave by the Seagulls.

It is the second time in 15 months that the Blues have raided their Premier League rivals' recruitment department after they landed Paul Winstanley. The 45-year-old is currently co-sporting director with the Blues alongside Laurence Stewart.

Jewell moved into Winstanley's role on an interim basis following the latter's departure to join Chelsea in November 2022, before being appointed officially into the role the following February. He now follows in the footsteps of his predecessor.

The recruitment head, son of former Wigan boss Paul Jewell, must now undertake a period of gardening leave before making the move to Stamford Bridge. The Seagulls released a blunt statement announcing the exit.

Brighton's statement read: "Sam Jewell has accepted a new position at Chelsea FC. Sam has now commenced a period of gardening leave. We thank him for his long service to our club.

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"With immediate effect, Mike Cave, assistant technical director, supported by George Holmes, scouting and intelligence manager, will assume Sam’s responsibilities."

The Blues have regularly poached staff from the Sussex outfit since the takeover of the club by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital. Chelsea have appointed the likes of Graham Potter, Kyle Macaulay and Ben Roberts to roles, in addition to signing Marc Cucurella and Moises Caicedo.

The Blues have regularly poached staff from the Sussex outfit since the takeover of the club by Todd Boehly (Getty Images)

Jewell appears set to take on a global scouting role at Stamford Bridge that would see him take charge of negotiations for clubs under the BlueCo umbrella. He has previously held the position of chief scout at Swindon Town before advancing through the ranks at the Amex Stadium from under-21 recruitment manager in 2016 to emerging talent scouting manager before landing the role of head of recruitment.

Jewell has previously spoken about the importance of planning to ensure the departures of Dan Ashworth and Winstanley were not felt in a significant way. Now the Seagulss must hope they can transition without him.

Jewell said: "We’re very lucky at Brighton because our succession planning means there is very little upheaval when people do move on. Departures are part and parcel of football, and while it was sad to see two really good people leave us, it has opened doors to others, including me. Following Paul’s departure, I took on the head of recruitment role on an interim basis and it was very much business as usual."

He added: "There’s nothing in the job that I hadn’t done before, to be honest. I was lucky in the fact that Paul Winstanley trusted me a lot with many elements of the role, so I just got on with what I needed to do."

Scott Trotter