http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/8396945/Chelsea-assistant-manager-Michael-Emenalos-open-discussions-about-transfer-targets-not-champions-style.html

Chelsea assistant manager Michael Emenalo's open discussions about transfer targets not champions' style

Chelsea assistant manager Michael Emenalo is understood to have strained his relationship with key figures at the club, including Carlo Ancelotti, by extraordinarily discussing potential transfer targets.

Jason Burt
By Jason Burt 11:18PM GMT 21 Mar 2011

In a visit to Zagreb at the weekend, Emenalo gave an apparently remarkably frank interview to a Croatian newspaper, Sports Kenovsti  ( ), in which he freely spoke about Chelsea’s interest in three players including the promising 19-year-old striker Ante Vukusic.

It is not Chelsea’s style to discuss potential transfer targets so openly, especially for someone in Emenalo’s role as Ancelotti’s assistant and a part of his backroom staff.

The Nigerian was appointed, of course, in highly controversial circumstances following the abrupt sacking of Ancelotti’s assistant Ray Wilkins in a move that deeply upset the manager.

Ancelotti had little say in Walikins being replaced by Emenalo, who is extremely well-connected at Chelsea, being directly selected by the club’s owner Roman Abramovich, and admitted as much.

It led to Ancelotti considering his own future although he has since maintained that he wants to stay at Chelsea and see out his contract which runs until June 2012. Chief executive Ron Gourlay caused some disquiet over the weekend when he spoke about the manager’s position being reviewed at the end of the season.

Chelsea insisted this was normal procedure but it did not amount to a ringing endorsement of Ancelotti although he defended the club, saying he had been fortunate to keep his job after a poor run of form. It’s understood that Ancelotti’s future is tied to results from now until the end of the campaign.

Emenalo’s previous job was to help compile scouting reports on Chelsea’s opposition but there have long been strong suggestions that he has also been recommending potential signings to Abramovich. Emenalo was himself recruited by Avram Grant when he was Chelsea’s manager.

Emenalo was in the Croatian capital on Saturday — before returning to sit on the bench for Sunday’s Premier League match at home to Manchester City — to watch Dinamo Zagreb face Hadjuk Split.

Emenalo was spotted in the Maksimir Stadium by Croatian reporters and was approached after the derby match. In the newspaper he was quoted as saying he “really liked” Vukusic who is described as a “born goalscorer” before adding that he was “really interested” in the teenager. Vukusic plays as a central striker and has been watched by several leading clubs for the past two years.

Emenalo also named the Dinamo midfielder Milan Badelj, who is 21, and said that he and Vukusic “definitely have the quality to play for Chelsea” although he added that he did not know whether the club would bid for the players or another, the 19-year-old right-back Sime Vrsaljko, who also plays for Dinamo and is close to making his full international debut.

Interestingly both Vukusic and Vrsaljko have strongly been linked with Arsenal in recent weeks.

What will also cause some irritation at Chelsea, as sources pointed out last night, will be the description in the newspaper of Emenalo as someone who has the “trust” of Abramovich and that he has the say in the buying of players although there was an element of editorialising in that.

Chelsea have already earmarked three young recruits, who have all been identified with the help of Ancelotti, for this summer as Abramovich continues to reinvest in his squad having spent L75 million in the January transfer window on Fernando Torres and David Luiz.

Talks are now on hold over Genk winger Kevin de Bruyne, although the clubs have been close to an agreement, while Anderlecht’s insistence on receiving € 20 million for the highly-rated 17-year-old striker Romelu Lukaku has cast some doubt on that deal. Chelsea are willing to pay half that amount but remain confident a deal can be struck. Chelsea are also expected to sign Brazilian Lucas Piazon after the 17-year-old’s club, Sao Paulo, leaked news of the deal last week.