‘Not going to stay’ – Marina Granovskaia exit talk emerges to give Chelsea new transfer headache

Chelsea’s summer transfer plans look to be in serious jeopardy amid claims Marina Granovskaia is unlikely to be at the club much longer.

The Blues are working under strict Government sanctions right now, with a number of restrictions placed upon them. As such, the situation at Stamford Bridge has forced Roman Abramovich to put the club up for sale. To that end, one new owner – UK based entrepreneur Nick Candy – looks favourite to become their new owner.

Chelsea are, understandably, hoping for a quick sale of the club with a resolution likely to be found by the end of April.

That should allow the Blues to turn their focus back to the summer transfer market. And that news will be timely for Thomas Tuchel, with a number of pressing concerns gathering pace at Stamford Bridge.

Top of Tuchel’s list of priorities will be to finalise the situation regarding his defence.

Cesar Azpilicueta, Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen are all out of contract come the summer. As such, all three are eligible to walk away as free agents.

Plenty has been written about potential destinations for all three, though one prime suitor appears to have gone cold on Rudiger.

As it stands, Chelsea have been blocked from signing up their players to new deals as part of their sanctions.

However, a wider problem has now come to light with Granovskaia likely to also leave.

The 47-year-old has been Chelsea’s face of transfer business since 2014. She is the person who leads all transfer negotations for the Blues, as well as negotiates new player contracts.

Chelsea situation leaves transfers up in the air

Sky Sports News journalist Kaveh Solhekol, though, now also expects her to depart Stamford Bridge.

As a result, any Chelsea transfer dealings will likely also be placed on the backburner.

Asked if she is likely to go and if Chelsea’s dealings will be affected, Solhekol stated: “Definitely. Is Marina Granovskaia going to be there? She’s the one overseeing all the transfer business.

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“She’s the one who’s in charge of negotiating all the contracts. I’m not sure she’s going to stay. This is the kind of time of year where Chelsea would be working hard behind the scenes before the window opens. They will be working out who they’re going to try and sell, who was going to leave.

“All of those plans have been put on hold for the time being.”

Chelsea squad strong enough without Marina Granovskaia signings

While Chelsea should be in the clear to make new signings come the summer, they may now be playing catch-up to a certain extent.

That’s also raised the possibility of the club being unable to make new signings all summer long.

That said, they have a very deep pool of players and Solhekol reckons, either way, Chelsea will be fine.

“The only thing I would say is that Chelsea have such a fantastic squad anyway. Obviously you would have expected them to have done some business this summer.

“Everything has just been put on hold. A few months ago we were talking about the fact that they were in for Erling Haaland.

“It’s just not happening at the moment and I can’t really see any of these consortiums coming in quickly, sorting things out, taking over, backing Thomas Tuchel and saying, ‘here you go, here’s another £100m to buy another striker’.”

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