RB Salzburg have come out to clarify that they do not expect Christoph Freund to join Chelsea despite reports the Austrian was close to becoming the new sporting director in west London.
Threatening to elongate an already messy saga, Salzburg chief Stephan Reiter has said that Freund joining Chelsea can 'definitely' be ruled out.
Speaking to Sky Sports Austria regarding reports Freund was on the verge of making the leap to join Chelsea, Reiter appeared to deny any knowledge of such a deal and stressed their sporting director was there to stay.
Christoph Freund (L) had reportedly been close to joining Chelsea in the last few weeks
He said: 'I can definitely rule that out, neither Chelsea nor Christoph Freund spoke to me or the club management about something like that.