Officially, Marina Granovskaia has not left Chelsea Football Club just yet, and is set to remain “available” to help with transfers and support the ownership transition process, but with Todd Boehly being named interim sporting director, in addition to taking over as Chairman, Granovskaia’s role has been effectively made redundant. As the Telegraph report, she “will not play an active part” anymore.
But Boehly’s appointment is set to be just temporary, with Chelsea looking for someone to fill the position on a permanent, full-time basis.
During the bidding process, we were already linked with a couple names, AS Monaco’s Paul Mitchell and Atlético Madrid’s Andrea Berta, but only the latter of those makes it into the Telegraph’s initial list. Mitchell recently being named to the Monaco board probably rules him out of any change of scenery anyway.
In addition to Berta, Michael Edwards and Michael Emenalo have been reported as potential candidates. Edwards, who is also on Manchester United’s radar, left Liverpool after a decade this summer and may not be ready to take on another job just yet. Emenalo, who’s been on a sabbatical for the last three years, may be ready however. He had reportedly rejected newly wealthy Newcastle United in December. Bringing him back to Chelsea — and giving him full powers for the first time — would be an intriguing move indeed.
Other names who “may also emerge as early candidates” include Ramon Planes (ex-Barcelona) and Steve Hitchen (ex-Spurs), and maybe we can also include Petr Čech as well.
The club legend has been in a technical and performance advisory position for the last three years, possibly with a view towards eventually graduating to a technical director role. Perhaps now is that time! Čech will reportedly have a talk with the new powers that be to figure out how he fits into the new regime.
