Road to Redemption: How Chelsea can get back to former glory
The glory of the "Abramovich era" seems to be fading fast and hard for Chelsea. From being a domestic mainstay and heading towards European dominance, Chelsea have lost their way over the past four years. The club has failed to qualify for the Champions League twice in the last three years and are far from sure of qualifying this year too.
A team that once had the likes of Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Michael Ballack and Petr Cech playing together are now left with just two bona fide superstars in Eden Hazard and N'golo Kante. The worrying results have come along with worrying transfers too, with Diego Costa being the last impactful star purchase. A purchase made almost 5 years back. With Hazard seemingly on his way out as well, let's take a look at some small but meaningful steps Chelsea can take to get their stock back up to the top domestically and resume their quest for European domination.
#5 Hire a technical director
Marina Granovskaia has had a major say in Chelsea's transfer policy from the beginning of the 'Abramovich era'. But since her appointment as Abramovich's official representative in 2010 and her subsequent elevation to the Chelsea board, she has become the most powerful figure at the club. She has done a tremendous job over the years and Chelsea's impressively low net transfer spend compared to their domestic rivals are a testimony to her business prowess.
However, she has had the expertise and judgement of former technical director Michael Emenalo at hand. He was a calming influence between Granovskaia and Chelsea's high profile managers. Antonio Conte had publicly lamented his absence during the Italian's second season in-charge of the Blues. Since his departure in 2017, Chelsea's investment in new players has been questionable at best with the likes of Morata, Barkley and Giroud failing to impress.
The next available transfer window will be crucial for the club's future with Hazard's impending exit and a transfer ban looming. While Granovskaia is undoubtedly one of the best business minds in football, she could use a true footballing expert to help with footballing decisions. Emenalo himself is available, having recently been sacked by Monaco. But a club like Chelsea should have no problems in attracting other brilliant minds in football if they so wished to.