Former Nigeria international Michael Emenalo has reached an agreement with Roma for the position of Director of Sport, according to reports in Italy.
Emenalo, 55, is one of the candidates tipped to take over the position after the Serie A giants sacked Gianluca Petrachi in the summer.
According to Il Corriere dello Sport, Petrachi has sued Roma asking a €5m compensation as he believes he was dismissed unjustly.
It is believed Emenalo has met Roma’s owners in London and has reportedly received guarantees take over the job.
The likes of Jonas Boldt and Ralf Rangnick have also being linked with the Director of Sport post.
Emenalo was Technical Director at Chelsea between 2011 to 2017.
During his time at Chelsea, the club won the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, Champions League and Europa League.
On 6 November 2017, he resigned from his position and at the end of that month joined Monaco as its sporting director and on 12 August 2019, he left Monaco by mutual consent.
He made his Super Eagles debut in 1985 earned 14 caps before retiring from international football in 1995.
He was a member of the Eagles squad that featured at the 1994 FIFA World Cup where he played in three games.
12 Comments
Congrats…wonder which naija player go follow am go Roma.
At Chelsea.. Moses, Omeruo.
At Monaco… Onyekuru.
Hmmm…..and they’d say nobody wants to give them jobs because they are black, yet Emenalo (a black man thru and thru) switches from one big team to the other every now and then.
Even an African adage says the kid who washes his hands well will dine with elders
Azubike okechukwu is not in match day squad for istanbul basisahir. Please, is he injured?
Yes, he has been injured for three months now
Edoguy, me too see se Azubuike no dey play ooo. Similarly, Olayinka no play Slavia Prague last match abi my eyes need glasses. Dem wound? lol. As good as Azubuike be from a 9ja perspective, him no fit bench the players for this Basaksenhir team imho. Of all our midfielders, na only Onyeka (who myself i no think he is good enough for eagles) that is playing regular champions league football, its pathetic to be honest, and we wan reach semi final for world cup lol.
@proudly9ja I am surprised he is not even do enough to play. He is not making the match day squad. My thinking is that he is injurred. The SE midfield is there for the taking. Aribo doesn’t defend as much as he attacks, Etebo is the only midfielder we have that tracks back well, Ndidi just returned, Osarenren bazee still out injured. The SE midfield at the moment lacks creativity and a hard presence. I think Rohr’s decision to use Ajayi as a midfielder is justified!!
Edoguy, I really hope so ooo regarding Azubuike’s situation. I really hope he is just injured hence the reason he isn’t featuring. He just signed for them from his Egyptian club after being on loan last season, the fact that they signed him must mean he is a decent player and part of the club’s plans but honestly going by what has been on display today i doubt he will bench the midfielders currently on parade, I hope am wrong tho. As regards to Semi in the midfield for the Algeria and Tunisia game, GR is justified for using him but me personally would have played Tijani there (I know people might say he is too young and lacks experience which are valid points) but thats Tijani”s natural position and not Semi albeit he has played there b4. Again GR must have seen something in training that prompted him to play Semi ahead of Tijani. I understand not using Onyeka after watching the 2 champions league matches why he wasn’t use. Na gragra and gboshun gboshun kind of football him dey play. My take tho.
Absolutely correct @proudly 9ja, Onyeka still needs to improve his game but he is abit descent, and with consistency, he would improve.
I would have played Tijani too, but Rohr is a coach that plays players with some reputation. I am pretty confident of Rohr’s defence, so many good players to pick from but upfront I think Rohr is confused on players to pick from.
Germans always focus on effectiveness and less to do with in match tricks and tactics. But I think we need a few tricks and in play tactics to help isolate opposition defenders with our wingers!
Azubuike Okechukwu has been out injured since the beginning of the season. This he confirmed on twitter when somebody asked him directly.
Thanks for confirming that BigD. Edoguy, totally agree with what u said as well. I think tge NFF made a poor choice in Yobo imho, GR and Yobo were both defenders in dia playing days, so it makes sense that the team is more solid defensively. If I were the chairman of NFF, I would have gone with a former midfielder as one of GR’s assistant. Note that midfielders tend to be the best coaches not in any way saying that others who were goalkeepers or defenders can’t be good coaches but midfielders see the field more and they connect the defence with the attack. I would have also used a former attacker as an assistant as well to handle the attacking area of the coaching (I would go for Manu Garba for dis role, I know some will say u17 is not senior team but the way his teams attack is a joy and I think most fans would rather SE play like that, always on the front foot). Manu Garba didn’t cover himself with glory the last u17 due to many factors u and I know but from the few games we say, they played some good football, if NFF had let him have a freehand in selecting his players, 9ja wouldn’t have crashed out the way we did. Just a tot
I agree with you on alot of your points but I have a problem with the way we pick young players and the pressure we put on them to succeed. I would fail if put in those conditions. Manu Garba’s no. 9, Wisdom Ubani, a prospective talent was considered a failure just because he did not perform in one match. I disagree with the wholistic nature of developing talents in Nigeria and as a 5 time champion we can leverage on this to develop a system that sees all of our 17 play at least a game with golden eaglets and see them develop.
I have condemned all our clubs in the pasts for not having development structures and for the LMC for not organizing a youth league. It is the duty of Enyimba, Sunshine stars, Insurance, IFU and other clubs to develop an organised system to pick young boys and monitor their education and football. Only God knows how these boys are picked. If I could talk to NFF, I will ask them, how come someone like Osimhen was on the street at 15 not playing for any of the top football club in Nigeria atleast their youth setup.
On the coaching style, in Nigeria, we need to develop our own management style at country at large. Germans generally do not look for shortcuts or play in play tactics, they believe in precision management, hence their soccer is about effectiveness thats why you see their success in Bayern Munich and Liverpool…however, PSG’s coach despite enormous talent in Neymar and Mbappe, is not looking for a way to make football easy for both footballers. If they continue to be double tackled by opposition defences, they wont offer much.
Same thing with Nigeria, we have interesting wingers but with a good team like Algeria that will double team all the time on Chukwueze or Musa, we will be short of options to score goals.
In essence, we cant change Rohr now, but we need Rohr to change a little bit and look for ways to make the attackers take on defenders one on one; there are several modern inplay tactics that can be deployed nowadays that will give chukwueze a good take on opportunity with the opposition defender. Onuachu can play, our full backs need to work on delivering precise crosses!!
There is alot to say, but hopefully the future is bright!
Well said bro, i enjoyed reading your well articulated post. Thumbs up bro for a well written piece. I agree with your point on Ubani, I also think Manu should have given him more game time in the tournament, I think he only played a game if am not mistaken at the u17 worldcup.