Chelsea is close to reaching an agreement with Southampton to appoint former Manchester City head of youth recruitment Joe Shields as their new director of recruitment, according to reports.

Shields, who is currently the head of senior recruitment at Southampton will join Chelsea next few months, reports Fabrizio Romano.

Shields replaced Martyn Glover, who left Southampton to Leicester City as their head of recruitment.

The Englishman left Manchester City and joined Southampton in July of this year, signing many youngsters for The Saints, including Romeo Lavia, Samuel Edozie, Gavin Bazunu and Bella-Kotchap.

He was at City for nine years, initially as their chief scout in the south of England and was responsible for finding players such as Luke Mbete and Jadon Sancho, before his elevation as their head of academy recruitment in 2018.

Joe Shields was previously at Crystal Palace as their academy scout and later assistant head of youth recruitment and at Fulham as academy scout.