Chelsea: Five times Marina Granovskaia won the summer transfer window

3. Strong-arming Juventus to “buy” Maurizio Sarri

Few managers will ever live the charmed life Maurizio Sarri enjoyed at Chelsea FC. He entered his tenure with the club buying the one player he requested by name, at a price that reflected Sarri’s dependence on this player and the connivance of the selling chairman, Aurelio De Laurentiis. The club granted Sarri another bloated by-name request in January by bringing in Gonzalo Higuain on loan. Chelsea quietly tolerated Maurizio Sarri insulting his two best players, casually dismissing the fans and petulantly disgracing himself at Wembley Stadium en route to the team winning him a Europa League title.

But two shapes hovered on the horizon. One, a storm cloud, in the form of the transfer ban. The other, a shining sun in the form of the most desirable job in Italian football: managing Juventus. As soon as these approached Stamford Bridge, Sarri wanted no life in west London, no matter how temporarily charmed.

Chelsea had just lost their case against their previous manager for wrongful termination, and were preparing a £9 million check to Antonio Conte. Now they were in the unusual position of having a manager who wanted to leave.

They knew they would have to buy out Frank Lampard’s contract just as they were buying out Antonio Conte’s. Someone would have to pay for Maurizio Sarri’s early exit.

Like Hazard and Real Madrid, Juventus had all the leverage. Sarri wanted the move. At the club level Chelsea were ambivalent, at best, about keeping him. Many fans wanted him gone. Many players, especially those under the age of 25, knew they had no future at a Chelsea under Sarri. If those players left, Chelsea would be on the hook for several more high-spending transfer windows.

But like the Hazard situation, Granovskaia made Juventus pay for what everyone involved wanted.

Marina Granovskaia did more for Maurizio Sarri than anyone else in his football career. By hiring him at Chelsea she gave him the platform he craved but did not deserve. With Chelsea and players like Eden Hazard, N’Golo Kante, Pedro and Kepa Arrizabalaga he could win a European cup and puff his way into contention for the Juventus job.

Her 2018 investment in Sarri cost the club a lot of progress, prestige and a few players. She could have just cut her losses by letting him break his contract and taken the L on the whole smokey thing.

Instead, she balanced her own ledger by persuading Juventus to buy Sarri out of his contract when many Chelsea fans would have been happy to see him leave on a free. Some might even have chipped in for his plane ticket.

The money Juventus paid for Sarri accelerated Frank Lampard’s return to Stamford Bridge, and that will end up being worth even more than the few million pounds Juventus paid for their next short-term manager.