According to some die-hard, Abramovich era Chelsea fans, Marina Granovskaia, until recently a long time sports director is among the ‘untouchables’ from the previous regime. The successful business woman and close Abramovich’s ally has signed some great names throughout her career like Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah, Edouard Mendy, Antonio Rudiger, N’Golo Kante or sold some of them for ludicrous amount of money (Hazard to Real for over 100 million pounds), but even her successful dealing have been under the spotlight recently, ‘thanks’ to a new Chelsea owner. Todd Boehly took England ‘by storm’ since he became owner of the Blues, and from time to time, various reports about his public dissatisfaction with Marina and her recent dealings appeared, or to be precise, her non-dealings. Todd Boehly does not understand why Marina Granovskaia signed Saul Niguez over Aurelien Tchouameni last year, with some people at #Chelsea believing he wasn’t ready to have an immediate impact on Thomas Tuchel’s team.(@sport)— ⭐️ Chels HQ ⭐️ (@Chels_HQ) September 21, 2022 According to Spanish ‘Sport’, the American is baffled why Granovskaia decided not to pursue the Aurelien Tchouameni transfer. Not only did he became an instant success in Real Madrid, but he was also cheaper a year ago, when the transfer was bound to happen, and Chelsea were in the driving seat to get him. And to make things worse, she didn’t sign him 6 months later, when she still had the chance, but opted for a Saul Niguez loan instead. The Atletico midfielder failed to impress during his six-month stint and only made 10 league appearances, mostly from the bench, and scored one goal. Kante receives a poor contract offer – he could walk out on Chelsea as a free agent!But in the summer of 2021, after months of scouting and meetings with Tchouameni’ entourage, the Blues were in pole position to sign a young midfielder. Thomas Tuchel wanted another midfielder too, with loans for Billy Gilmour (Norwich) and Conor Gallagher (Crystal Palace) already agreed. First option was Declan Rice, but West Ham wanted a huge amount of money, and during that period, Tchouameni costed ‘only’ 70 million. The Telegraph reported that was because senior figures at Stamford Bridge weren’t convinced the Frenchman could make an instant impact within Tuchel’s side. So they focused on another target as that summer’s transfer window reached its conclusion: Saul Niguez. During this summer, when Kylian Mbappe transfer saga ended with him staying in PSG, Real Madrid forked out 100 million for Tchouameni, and his qualities were on public display against Atletico Madrid. So, Chelsea lost a potential world star player, and got one who was so bad, they shipped him back after six months. Now they are short in midfield and their current players are about to become free agents in June 2023 – Jorginho and N’Golo Kante. New Chelsea owner blames Marina Granovskaia for club’s defensive woesAnother problem at Chelsea during the just finished transfer window was the back line, which was revamped mainly due to Granovskaia’s lack of action, according to Boehly. She didn’t make an effort to sign Antonio Rudiger (according to his agent) and the German ended up in Real as a free agent, just like Andreas Christensen who signed for Barcelona. “When I spoke to the new regime, I said the old regime cost you 100 million pounds. Do you know what they said to me? “More” said Saif Rubie, football agent, who among other things was intermediate in the Antonio Rudiger’s deal to Real Madrid. ##NAJAVA_MECA_6660734##
