CHELSEA’S delegation at Old Trafford included a surprise figure during Saturday’s loss to Manchester United.
The Blues suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season as they lost 2-1 to United at the Theatre of Dreams.
The West Londoners had a lot of representation up in Manchester with the likes of Behdad Eghbali, Paul Winstanley, Laurence Stewart, Joe Shields, Sam Jewell and Daniel Finkelstein in the directors’ box.
According to The Mail, Chelsea’s reps were joined by former Premier League ace David Weir.
Weir, 55, attended the match less than two weeks after his surprise departure from Brighton as technical director.
The Everton hero’s appearance raised a few questions considering Chelsea’s recent history of hiring players and staff from the Seagulls in the last three years.
But it’s been reported the ex-Scotland international was simply a guest of the visitors.
And it seems like Weir was probably invited by his good friend Winstanley, with whom he worked at Brighton.
Their wives are also friends and they accompanied their husbands in the box.
The former Rangers star lives relatively close to Old Trafford as well.
The Blues have pinched 15 players and staff members from Brighton since Todd Boehly took over as co-owner and chairman in 2022.
The Blues started with youngsters Zak Sturge and Shumaira Mheuka just over a month into the Boehly era three years ago.
Marc Cucurella then followed in a £62million transfer before Graham Potter took over at the helm.
As part of the deal for Potter, Chelsea paid in excess of £21m in compensation as he was joined by five staff members – Billy Reid, Bjorn Hamberg, Bruno Saltor, Ben Roberts and Kyle Macauley.
In December of that same year Winstanley swapped the Amex for Stamford Bridge when he was appointed sporting director.
Then in February 2024 Sam Jewell made the switch to lead the club’s global scouting network and take charge of player negotiations.
Next, Chelsea smashed the British transfer record to land Moises Caicedo for a staggering £115m.
That same month, they also sealed a £25m deal for Robert Sanchez.
And this summer Chelsea added Joao Pedro following a £55m deal with Brighton.
But the Prem giants weren’t done just yet as Julio Enciso followed before his move to sister club Strasbourg.
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