Chelsea FC Interviews Michael Emenalo: The Comprehensive Report
Case Studies
Emenalo is part of a senior management team at Chelsea who is tasked with ensuring that the club “balances being successful, winning trophies and comfortably qualifying for the Champions League”. Smiling while considering the latter point, he caveats it with “which is now considered a trophy”, in what was perhaps a little nod to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
The balance he describes is assisted by two main points. They are “having the right players at the right time” and “knowing when a player’s development has not finished”.
POPULAR: Chelsea FC: Patrick Bamford Should Benefit From Glenn Murray Departure
Emenalo uses two players to back up his reasoning.
The first of which is Victor Moses, a player he describes as “very talented” and a player that the club “wants to keep”, a sentiment reflected by the fact that Emenalo’s countryman has just signed a new contract at the club.
The second player discussed is Juan Cuadrado. The player was signed in the 2014/15 winter transfer window, joining the club in the aftermath of a “difficult game against Spurs”.
Unfortunately, as a result of the Spurs result Chelsea “had to change our strategy for the rest of the season, which didn’t suit the reason we had bought him for”.
Cuadrado consequently saw very limited game time and his form dipped to such an extent that the club “felt it was better for him to go and rediscover his confidence”. The club of choice was last season’s Champions League finalist Juventus.
Emenalo points to Juventus and West Ham in Moses’ case as 2 top clubs that we are sending players too and that it “proves that we don’t recruit bad players”. The performances of Egyptian Mohammed Salah for Fiorentina last season was also used as a case in point.
When discussing the future, Emenalo references the past. He wants to “continuously improve, perfect and streamline the loan clubs” we send our players too.
Unfortunately for one such player, this wasn’t always the case.
Young English midfielder Josh McEachran was a name on many a Chelsea fan’s lips a few years back and big things were expected. Sadly for McEachran, he didn’t fulfill his potential.
Emenalo describes McEachran as a “wonderful talent”, but he feels that the lack of direction within the club’s loan strategy at the time meant that the player didn’t end up at the right clubs to ensure that his development continued. Emenalo feels that “we could have had a different programme” for McEachran, but that “we had learnt from that”.
To wrap up his interview, the Nigerian was clear in what is required moving forward. Chelsea must “make sure we are very specific where they go”. This highlights the need for himself and Jose Mourinho to coordinate and work closely with each other in order that the “chances for success are much greater”.
And that is something that all Chelsea fans will be delighted to hear.
Next: Chelsea FC: Izzy Brown Loan Has January Recall Clause