Chelsea is bombarded with negotiations currently. Marina Granovskaia leads the efforts and has three lessons to be taught to the world.
To be quite frank, no one really knows what the Chelsea board does overall. They make assumptions and they often blame the board when something goes wrong, but like Roman Abramovich, the board prefers to stay in the shadows.
Among those shadows is Marina Granovskaia, the Chelsea director that fans love to hate and hate that they love. It really just depends on someone’s perception of whatever deal is going down. One thing is for certain however; Granovskaia knows how to negotiate.
Three current negotiations shine light on her abilities, each with their own lesson. What can be learned over deals involving Callum Hudson-Odoi, Eden Hazard, and Maurizio Sarri.
1. Get deals done while in a position of power
In January, Hudson-Odoi submitted a transfer request. He had dominated at youth level, dominated in preseason, and played better than any of Chelsea’s other options when brought in during the season. Yet Sarri could not be bothered to play him in games where he clearly could make room for the Englishman. Hudson-Odoi wanted to go to a club and manager that would give him opportunity.
Chelsea rejected all advances. In March, Hudson-Odoi was called into the English national team before making a Premier League debut. After doing well there, Sarri finally accepted that he had to play the winger in his rotation (or was ordered to by the board).
But it was not long before Hudson-Odoi suffered a season ending injury. Any move to Bayern Munich would surely be off and with his contract running out, Hudson-Odoi lost his bargaining power on the treatment table.
Enter Granovskaia with a brand new five year contract. She knows that by the time Hudson-Odoi recovers, even if he is the same player, he will be up against it to prove himself to either Chelsea or someone else. He very much has no other option because of the injury but to sign. Which is one reason as to why Granovskaia is putting the deal in front of him now.
Of course, the club also wants Hudson-Odoi to be part of the future. But sometimes that means putting the player in a corner and giving them no other choice. That is what she is doing with Hudson-Odoi (and Ruben Loftus-Cheek who finds himself in a similar situation, minus his contract running short).
This is all Granovskaia waiting until there is no other choice. She and the club have the power in this situation and even if they are extending Hudson-Odoi and Loftus-Cheek out of genuine desire to build around them, Granovskaia is also giving them new deals now because she knows she can only get a “yes”.