Marina Granovskaia is the most powerful woman in football and runs Chelsea for absent owner Roman Abramovich – The Irish Sun

WHEN Frank Lampard signed a three-year contract with Chelsea in July 2019, the presence of Marina Granovskaia by his side on his debut was fitting.

At last, She has become the most powerful woman in football and the character that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich relies on to get the job done at the club.

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Lampard met Abramovich on his yacht in St Tropez a month before his appointment – but it was Granovskaia who sealed a £5.5million-a-year deal for the Chelsea legend to compete for a return trip in the summer. his fairy tale in West London.

And it was Granovskaia who realized how important Lampard is to Chelsea fans, as well as his potential for management.

Over the years, she’s been at the center of every contract renewal or new contract reveal. Her importance in the Blues hierarchy can never be underestimated.

MILLIONS OF ROMAN

With Roman money, Granovskaia was most trusted.

From Kevin De Bruyne to Mohamed Salah, Chelsea owners are rarely at their best when it comes to selling their players, receiving unfortunate sums for players who have become superstars.

That is until the Russian is seen as the woman making all the big decisions at the club, for now.

Her sale of star Eden Hazard to Real Madrid is astonishing, she is hailed by the Stamford Bridge faithful.

The LaLiga giants will pay £143m for the Belgium international who has only one year left on his contract with the Blues.

On top of that, she gets a lot of support for recoup a neat £175m by shipping a series of flops from David Luiz to Alvaro Morata to Oscar.

Like Abramovich, Marina Granovskaia chooses to keep public information private.

Her only projection is through the strictly restricted portal of Chelsea club website.

But Granovskaia has been a key part of Abramovich’s true inner ring for the best part of two decades, through his entire Chelsea reign.

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Mice have grown up

Originally an assistant at Sibneft, the oil corporation that helped move Abramovich Become a tycoon and one of the richest men in the world.

Then, after buying Chelsea in 2003, as head of his London office, although initially having no contact with the club.

But over time, that has changed.

The “gray mouse” schoolgirl, as described by a former teacher, has transformed herself into one of the big beasts of the soccer jungle.

Granovskaia, 47 years old and with both Russian and Canadian citizenship, may have come to London as Abramovich’s auto mechanic, taking care of the owner and his guests.

However, her networking abilities are obvious.

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SHE IS BACK FOR MOURINHO

Her opinion is also starting to be valued.

Granovskaia may not have a footballing background, but Abramovich trusts her to tell him the truth and support her verdict.

So Granovskaia convinced Abramovich not to give up on Didier Drogba after he burst his pad in the 2009 Champions League semi-final defeat to Barcelona, ​​when many at the club felt they had to get rid of the Ivorian.

Full force to bring Fernando Torres to Liverpool two years later, breaking the British record for a fee of £ 50 million.

And leave the past in the past and do it again Jose Mourinho, six years after the relationship between the club level system and the “Special One” broke down.

CHELSEA DITCH CARD ‘SOFT TOUCH’

Thereafter, Granovskaia was elevated to a position among the club’s elite, being a member of both the football club board and the Chelsea center, with particular responsibility for transfers, contracts and agreements. , lending and academia.

That appointment brought about a change in the club’s strategy, a dramatic shift from the early days of Abramovich’s reign when the asking price for a player seemed like little more than a single figure, and Chelsea were their opponents considered something understandable.

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Instead, Granovskaia offers the same approach to financing that Abramovich has requested from his other businesses.

The soft feeling is gone. Instead, make a full determination to pay the right price, or simply walk away from the table.

Now, for Chelsea, with Abramovich, a host absent and even more so since the departure of sporting director Michael Emenalo in 2017, she is strength, and glory.

SHE STILL STILL IN RUSSIA

The woman who runs the club. The most powerful woman in world football.

And, in terms of her roles and responsibilities, is mostly anonymous. A face, usually in the background, not a voice. At least in public.

It’s different behind the scenes, where it matters.

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Foreign language graduates at Moscow State University have become fluent in the language that counts in football – cash and cache.

No major decisions take place at the club without her consent.

However, very little is known about her.

Yes, she is fluent in English and other languages, although it is claimed that, if she loses her temper, she will choose to swear in her mother tongue.

Apparently, her favorite restaurant is the Knightsbridge Sumosan Twiga eatery, the brand founded by the former Benetton [later Renault F1] Formula One team principal Flavio Briatore.

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Sumosan Twiga caters to Chelsea’s VIP executive boxes and chef Bubker Belhit describes her as a “wonderful person”, adding: “She’s always taken care of every little thing right up to the big thing. Best.”

Even so, Granovskaia prefers to stay in the background.

BUT SHARE PRIVACY IN PRIVACY

In October 2018, when Chelsea kicked off an anti-Semitism campaign in then-President John Bercow’s Westminster apartment, Granovskaia let Bruce Buck lead the club and did not speak publicly.

Instead, she smiled and greeted her invited guests, but said nothing more than polite soft talk.

That’s how the real Chelsea elite have been doing business since 2003.

They only seriously talk to the people they want to talk to.

Granovskaia demonstrated it by adopting a tough approach to negotiations.

And the same goes for her employees.

CONTE MADE THE FALL-DUCK

When Antonio Conte began using his press conferences to publicly disclaim responsibility for the club’s decline in his second season, it was Granovskaia who made it clear to the Italian that he would be the loser. fall.

Chelsea’s summer with no idea who will replace Conte is a rare occasion when it seems Granovskaia is uncertain.

But Maurizo Sarri knew he was being judged by her as soon as he arrived at the Bridge.

And who will be his executioner if his head is required. Marina, now, is the knife user.

And finally, she negotiated another great contract on behalf of Chelsea when Sarri joined Juventus.

Initially, Granovskaia wanted the Italian giants to pay around £5.3 million for the services of their manager.

That figure then dropped to £4m, before all parties agreed on a deal somewhere lower than that.

Surely that has saved Chelsea millions of dollars in compensation should they have to sack Sarri, someone fans want to get rid of, in the season to come? Miraculously, Granovskaia made money.

Abramovich may be the man behind the operation, but Granovskaia is definitely the business mind.

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