Michael Ballack shortlisted for Chelsea Director of Football role — report

It’s no secret that Chelsea have been through tough times this season and one of the contributing reasons has been the lack of a director of football at the club and for a while, it seemed like Chelsea would go into the next season without one but that’s not the case anymore. According to Evening Standard’s Simon Johnson, a new name has joined the shortlist for our future directors— Michael Ballack.

Standard Sport understands Ballack has been added to the list of names under consideration, which include another former Chelsea player, Juliano Belletti, and Lille’s sporting director Luis Campos.

Source: Evening Standard

A Director of Football has a lot of responsibilities but none more important than providing a long term vision to the club and at a time when fans, managers and players are all focused on the short term gain: winning trophies, this is a core and necessary function.

Apart from this, a DoF also acts as the intermediary between the manager and the board, almost acting like a buffer at times, helping avoid the kind of the rift that plagued most of our 2017-18 season. They also help the manager in handling other nominal tasks, thereby allowing the manager to focus on just the on-pitch performance.

Chelsea fans, over the years, have been blessed with the privilege of watching great midfielders like defensively astounding Claude Makélélé, beast Michael Essien, technically proficient Cesc Fàbregas and the greatest goal-scoring midfielder of all time, Frank Lampard. Considering this, the fact that Michael Ballack was able to carve a special place in the hearts of Chelsea fans is a testament to his ability on the pitch and his personality and reputation off it.

Thus, it may seem that he has all the qualities necessary to succeed, however his lack of experience in this role is definitely a concern, especially when you consider the stress that the job of a director of football, at a club like ours, carries.

However, it is a position that needs to be filled immediately and with the right person due to its importance. Ever since Emenalo’s departure, Marina Granovskaia has been left in charge of not only her job but that of a director of football as well and that’s clearly too much pressure for one human being, no matter how good.

Thus, it’s good to see the club taking steps in the right direction and here’s hoping that we appoint someone soon. Preferably, before the next season starts.