Reports have emerged that Chelsea technical director Michael Emenalo is under pressure following the club’s dreadful start to the season.
The Premier League champions find themselves in the unenviable position of 16th, with seven defeats out of 12 matches all but ending their title defence.
While the club’s owner, Roman Abramovich, has stuck with Jose Mourinho so far, many players – including John Terry, Eden Hazard and Nemanja Matic – has all been faced with the unprecedented ignominy of being dropped.
It appears the scrutiny has shifted to Emenalo following a string of poor signings.
The report suggests that should this run of results continue, the former Nigerian footballer will be facing the sack with little sign of any major activity ahead in the January transfer window.
Emenalo joined the Blues during Avram Grant’s tenure in 2007, before working his way up from chief scout to assistant first team coach until he was promoted to his current role in 2011.
And it is the transfer window of 2015 which may well define his career at the club and seal his fate.
It began with the departure of three flops – Filipe Luis returning to Atletico Madrid following a single season at Stamford Bridge while Mohamed Salah and Juan Cuadrado left to join Italian clubs Roma and Juventus on loan.
Manchester United reject Radamel Falcao has continued to look a shadow of his former self – one goal in 11 matches making Mourinho’s faith in him look misplaced.
Left-back Baba Rahman, a £16m acquisition from German side Augsburg, was a target for criticism in last weekend’s defeat to Stoke as he struggled to deal with Xherdan Shaqiri, while former Barcelona forward Pedro has regressed since his goal-scoring debut.
The biggest failure of the window was failing to land John Stones from Everton in a lengthy transfer saga which they ultimately lost – as evidenced by the hasty purchase of Papy Djilobodji.
Mourinho admitted the transfer was not his choice, with Emenalo believed to have been behind the deal for the young defender – who has made just one appearance all season which came in the Capital One Cup against Walsall.
Arguably the only success from the summer’s business was the signing of Asmir Begovic – even if the initial decision – sanctioned by Abramovich himself – to let Petr Cech go was a mistake.
The former Stoke goalkeeper has justified his purchase, having played in 10 out of the 12 league matches following an injury to regular No 1 Thibaut Courtois.
The only problem for Begovic has been his lack of clean sheets, with just two in the last 11 matches likely to cause some concern for Mourinho.
