Chelsea need a technical director to restore Michael Emenalo’s stability

Nature abhors a vacuum. Chelsea’s transfer and personnel strategy is pinballing in the void left by Michael Emenalo, making every rumour seem frighteningly plausible.

Say what you want about Michael Emenalo. We’ve said plenty over the years. Whether you agreed with individual decisions he made or the overall sweep of his tenure, he at least had a strategy for Chelsea FC.

Emenalo was consistent to the point of being predictable. Even if it meant you could predict a series of futile loans for the latest youth prospect hoovered up into the club, Emenalo charted a path and stuck with it. For better or worse, with history as his judge. By bringing consistency and continuity to a club that barely knows the meaning of either, Emenalo fulfilled a critical role as technical director.

Michael Emenalo’s surprise departure should have been a salutary moment at Stamford Bridge. Andreas Christensen’s ascension to the first team allowed Emenalo to leave on a positive note. Players in Emenalo’s sprawling loan army saw one of their own finally claim the title of The Next John Terry. Antonio Conte’s stock rose as he appeared to survive his conflicts with Emenalo and Marina Gronovskaia over Chelsea’s transfer policy.

All Chelsea needed to do to claim their dividend was appoint Emenalo’s successor in some reasonably timely manner. Over two months later and nearly three weeks into the January window, the Blues do not even have an interim technical director.

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With Antonio Conte still bearing the minimal title of head coach and without anyone managing the process – let alone setting and steering the strategy – Chelsea are swerving purposelessly through this transfer window. Without a decision-maker at the helm, personal preferences and conflicts become the order of the day.

As a result, every transfer rumour coming out of Stamford Bridge seems plausible. Andy Carroll? Sure, why not. Without Michael Emenalo to say and do otherwise, perhaps Chelsea are now in the business of giving multi-year contracts to chronically injured players over 30. If not Andy Carroll, why not Peter Crouch? He is even taller than Carroll with more Premier League experience. If that’s what Chelsea need, who is to say he does not fit the bill? We know what Michael Emenalo would do, but that no longer tells us anything.

Will Michy Batshuayi stay at Chelsea for the rest of the season? Go out on loan? Be sent to AS Roma as part of a blockbuster swap? The coach who does not rate him has no say. The technical director who signed him is no longer at the club. And no one who makes a decision now will be accountable for it in a few months. West Ham, Sevilla and Roma are all equally believable under the circumstances.

Chelsea are proving the adage that bad leaders don’t make bad decisions, they make no decisions. By not appointing at least a temporary successor to Michael Emenalo in time to take charge of the transfer window they have opened the door to absurdity and prolonged mediocrity. If they wanted Antonio Conte to resign in disgust to absolve themselves of responsibility for his early exit, they could hardly do more.

This January feels like a summer transfer window in terms of the players, money and silly rumours moving about the Premier League. Reputable media outlets are passing along rumours about Chelsea that are the rightful province of The Mirror and The Metro.

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But without any person or precedent to judge them against, and with Chelsea desperately in need of players, everything seems possible. And if we are here waxing nostalgic for the Michael Emenalo era, anything truly is possible.