Chelsea were dealt a huge blow when it was announced that technical director Michael Emenalo would be leaving his role at Stamford Bridge, ending a 10-year association with the football club, but he’s left a legacy behind him.
Emenalo, who oversaw much of Chelsea’s moves in terms of players moving in and out of the club after working his way up from being an opposition scout when he first started, is the mastermind behind Chelsea’s controversial loan system.
The Blues have no fewer than 33 players out on loan this season, including five at fellow Premier League clubs – Kurt Zouma at Stoke, Izzy Brown at Brighton, Kasey Palmer at Huddersfield, Tammy Abraham at Swansea and Ruben Loftus-Cheek at Crystal Palace, the latter two of which received their first call-ups to the senior England squad this month – which is a Premier League record.
Much has been made of Chelsea loaning young, home-grown talents out and not handing them first-team opportunities, but Emenalo singles out Andreas Christensen as the exception to that belief, stating that it is possible for players to leave and grow out on loan before earning an opportunity in the first-team when they return.
He’s [Christensen] shown great humility to go on loan and work very hard while he was there and gain the experience which is needed, and the timing is right for him now to step in and show what he’s learnt during those periods of development.
At the academy we have an academy manager who is absolutely outstanding. We have a scouting network that was revolutionary, people are copying some of the things that we did.
We have managed to improve our opposition scouting department and the recruitment of players. There are so many things outside of the technical area which I am aware of that have also grown and improved exponentially.
Christensen impressed in a two-year loan at Borussia Monchengladbach before returning to Chelsea in the summer where he earned a role in Antonio Conte’s first-team squad, and the hope is that the likes of Abraham, Loftus-Cheek and others can do the same.
