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Owner Roman Abramovich is ready to step-up his daily involvement at Chelsea following the departure of technical director Michael Emenado earlier this week.
The Nigerian-born Emenado was brought to the club a decade ago when Avram Grant replaced Jose Mourinho as manager, and has played a key role behind the scenes since, particularly with regards to transfers, as well as being a close ally to current head coach Antonio Conte.
Now with Emenado resigning to spend more time with his family, and no direct replacement lined up for him, Abramovich may be set to take-on a more hands-on role at the club again.
The Russian billionaire used to be a familiar figure at Chelsea’s Surrey training game, but has been less visible there in recent years, as he has relied on a band of trusted advisers, like Chairman Bruce Buck and Director Eugene Tenenbaum, to steer the club on a daily basis.
Emenado’s departure is also likely to strengthen the role of Chelsea’s chief transfer fixer and director, Marina Granovskaia, which may be bad news for Conte. The Italian was deeply unhappy about the club’s summer transfer business, and his concerns will only be deepened as control of buying and selling players passes further from his hands.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.