Chelsea co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley, Laurence Stewart sign new contracts

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Chelsea's co-sporting directors, Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, have signed new contracts at the club.

Co-director of recruitment Joe Shields and director of global recruitment Sam Jewell have also signed fresh terms until 2031.

The quartet all started their roles at Chelsea following the takeover by the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital-led consortium in May 2022. Stewart and Shields joined from Monaco and Southampton respectively in October of that year, with Winstanley and Jewell moving across in November 2022 and February last year respectively.

The new regime at Chelsea had already spent more than £1billion on player transfers ahead of this summer window, with fans and pundits often critical after the significant turnover in the playing squad resulted in 12th- and sixth-place finishes between 2022 and 2024, a period which saw four head coaches lead the men's team before Enzo Maresca was appointed last summer.

Optimism has shifted around Chelsea after Maresca guided the west London club to a fourth-place finish and triumphs in the Conference League and Club World Cup in 2024-25. Chelsea have continued to spend with the signings of Joao Pedro, Jamie Gittens, Jorrel Hato and Liam Delap for around £240m this summer, while bringing in just over £200m in sales.

As well as the playing staff, Stewart and Winstanley have overseen a period of change in Chelsea's recruitment operation since their arrival, with around 20 new hires across the scouting and data teams alone.

There was also leadership change in the academy following the departures of the long-serving Neil Bath and Jim Fraser in the summer of 2024. Glenn van der Kraan then joined from Manchester City in the role of academy technical director.

Winstanley and Stewart also led the process to replace Emma Hayes as Chelsea Women head coach in 2024 alongside head of women's football Paul Green, with Sonia Bompastor recruited from Lyon, as well as overseeing the then-world record signing of Naomi Girma from the San Diego Wave in January.

Chelsea start the new Premier League campaign on Sunday at home against Crystal Palace, while Bompastor's side begin their Women's Super League title defence against Manchester City on September 5.