Chelsea’s summer transfer window plans might be about to take a hit after claims that Marina Granovskaia is unlikely to stick around at Stamford Bridge for much longer.
The Blues are currently operating under sanctions by the UK Government and are not allowed to negotiate any transfers or contracts during this time. It couldn’t have come at a worse time for Chelsea or director Granovskaia, with the club currently locked in contract negotiations with several of their star players who could leave on a free at the end of the season. Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Cesar Azpiluicueta could all leave Stamford Bridge at the end of their contracts in May with Chelsea currently unable to do a thing about it.
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Now, they might be at risk of losing Granovskaia too, with Sky Sports News journalist Kaveh Solhekol speculating that the Russian-Canadian business executive might not be at the club when the time comes to get back into the transfer market this summer.
Asked in a Q&A about the Chelsea takeover whether the process would have an impact on the club’s transfer plans, Solhekol responded: “Definitely. Is Marina Granovskaia going to be there? She's the one overseeing all the transfer business. She's the one who's in charge of negotiating all the contracts - I'm not sure she's going to stay. This is the kind of time of year where Chelsea would be working hard behind the scenes before the window opens, working out who they're going to try and sell, who was going to leave. All of those plans have been put on hold for the time being.”
Granovskaia has been heralded for her transfer work at Chelsea, particularly in getting the Blues some excellent deals and value for money while operating in the upper echelons of the market. She brought title-winning duo Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas to west London back in 2014 for around £30million each and signed N’Golo Kante from Leicester for a similar price two years later.
Granovskaia also masterminded the £50million sale of David Luiz to PSG, the £53million sale of Costa back to Atletico and the initial £89million sale of Eden Hazard to Real Madrid. Such dealings have earned her the nickname ‘the Iron Lady’ and without her, the Blues are weakened on the negotiating table if they want to attract the best talent in the world and get the best prices for their own players.
“The only thing I would say,” added Solhekol, “is that Chelsea have such a fantastic squad anyway, but obviously you would have expected them to have done some business this summer. Everything has just been put on hold. A few months ago we were talking about the fact that they were in for Erling Haaland. It's just not happening at the moment and I can't really see any of these consortiums coming in quickly, sorting things out, taking over, backing Thomas Tuchel and giving him £100million.”
