Michael Emenalo has been appointed the new sporting director of Monaco, less than a month after his surprise decision to quit Chelsea.
As exclusively revealed by Telegraph Sport, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich failed in a plea to Emenalo to stay on as technical director, as the 52-year-old stepped down following the victory over Manchester United at the start of the month.
Emenalo and Chelsea publically claimed he wanted to spend more time with his family after 10 years at Stamford Bridge, but he has returned to work just three weeks later.
Chelsea are yet to make a decision on Emenalo’s replacement and whether or not they will appoint a new technical director, or split his responsibilities across a number of roles.
Director Marina Granovskaia has taken on much of the work Emenalo left behind as her influence at Chelsea continues to grow.
On his new job, Emenalo said: “This is a wonderful opportunity for me in a high quality project. AS Monaco has shown great progress for several seasons and I am convinced that the future will be just as ambitious.
“Vadim Vasilyev’s willingness to see me join AS Monaco was decisive and for me, the choice was natural after my decision to leave Chelsea.
“I will work here with humility and try my best to bring my experience in this club which is a reference of French and European football.”
Monaco vice-president Vasilyev added: “I have been following Michael Emenalo’s work for a long time and I am very happy to have him here after he chose to quit Chelsea.
“His know-how in the scouting network, as well as the technical skills he developed working in one of the most successful clubs in the world in the past few years, are the main reasons leading us to present him our ambitious challenge. “Through this appointment, it is a further sign that we are ambitious and competitive in our model.”
SOURCE:the telegraph
