Stewart will join Chelsea when he completes his commitments to AS Monaco where he is currently technical director, having moved to the Ligue 1 club in June 2020. During his time at Monaco, the team recorded consecutive third place finishes in Ligue 1 and was a finalist in the 2021 French Cup.

Prior to his role as the technical director at AS Monaco, Laurence was the global head of scouting at Red Bull Soccer International. Earlier in his career, Laurence was the head of performance analysis at Manchester City, senior recruitment coordinator at Everton, and was with the England national team in a performance analyst role for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

On his appointment to his new role, Stewart said: ‘I’m delighted to be joining Chelsea and excited about the vision and direction of the club under the new ownership group. I am excited to join them to help them build a world-class global sporting organisation to consistently win on the pitch at the highest levels and provide player pathways to help develop our talent.’

Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly and co-controlling owner Behdad Eghbali said: ‘Laurence is an important appointment as we plan to build a deep sporting team that will collaborate closely. Laurence is a world-class football leader who understands talent management, data and scouting, player development and performance.‘

Chelsea wishes to thank the owners of AS Monaco and their management team for supporting the recruitment of Laurence to Chelsea's project.