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They say that behind a great man hides an equally great woman. And that goes to Marina Granovskaia, the CEO of Chelsea and the "right hand" of the Russian multimillionaire owner of the English team, Roman Abramovich.
The summer of 2021 was undoubtedly perhaps the best in the career of the beautiful Marina Granovskaia. At first she made every effort to get Borussia Dortmund the tall Norwegian international forward Erling Haaland, but as the negotiations did not end well, she then quickly turned her attention to Inter Belgian forward Romelu Lukaku, and in a very short time closed the deal. securing an agreement within days.
The Italian champion, Inter, asked for
120 million euros, but Granovskaia managed to lower its price to 115 million euros and the international forward to dress in "blue", having in fact great success in his appearances so far.
Romelu Lukaku with Marina Granovskaia and I now a Chelsea player pic.twitter.com/LIMOas1tr5
— Frank Khalid (@FrankKhalidUK) August 12, 2021
But it was not just the smart shopping that the "iron lady" of Chelsea has made so far. It is also the sales that have brought in a lot of revenue to its "employer" Abramovich. He sold the talent of the international forward, Tammy Abraham, to Roma in the summer with 40 million euros.
The 21-year-old defender, Mark Guehi at Crystal Palace with 18 million euros. The central defender, Fikanio Tomori with 40 million euros in Milan. In fact, Marina has put a repurchase clause in all three of the above, if the management of the English team deems that they can strengthen it.
The work she has been doing at Chelsea for more than 10 years is fascinating and proves exactly why Abramovich trusts her so much.
Granovskaia studied at the Foreign Languages Faculty of Moscow State University and graduated in 1997. She started working as Roman Abramovich's PA at Sibneft in 1997 In 2003, she moved to London, when Abramovich bought Chelsea. She has also worked for Millhouse Capital, another company owned by Abramovich.
She later became involved in transfers and contractual dealings for Chelsea, becoming the representative of the owner at the club in 2010, then joining the Chelsea board in June 2013. In 2014, she was promoted to chief executive of the club. The Times stated that the promotion made the "most powerful woman in football."
Her task of managing transfers sometimes put her at odds with managers who had their own ideas of whom to sell or buy during the transfer window. She has also been responsible for brokering the team's sponsorship deal with Nike that will fund £60m per year to the club until 2032.
She has been described as 'The Iron Lady' and she is considered one of the best club directors in world football. In 2018, Forbes ranked her Number 5 in their "Most Powerful Women in International Sports" list.
While Chelsea started growing their presence on the pitch, with back-to-back Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006, Granovskaia started the long-term planning of the club.
She was a fundamental part of establishing a working relationship with Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem, who often provide a temporary home for loaned young Blues stars who develop their game in the Eredivisie, such as Mason Mount and Armando Broja . She also masterminded the building of Chelsea's Cobham training facility.
In 2010, she was appointed as Abramovich's representative, before being added to the board of directors in 2013, becoming influential in transfer dealings. One year later, she was promoted to the role of chief executive at the club following the departure of Ron Gourlay. She now has the final say on transfers, and negotiates the prices of sales and signings.
In short, a lot. Everything business and transfer related goes through her, and she has the full trust of Abramovich.