The curious case of Arnesen and Chelsea

Frank Arnesen has been a controversial figure for Chelsea ever since he made the move to Chelsea back in 2005. Arnesen, Director of Football at Stamford Bridge, has always remained a bit of a mystery amongst Chelsea fans, with his main role believed to be the responsibility of spotting young talent as well as helping owner Roman Abramovich draw up his transfer shopping lists.

With this role in mind, by looking at Arnesen’s CV, it is easy to see why Abramovich was so keen to bring the Dane into the Chelsea regime, and why he was prepared to pay a hefty financial settlement believed to be in the region of £8 million to do so. Arnesen is known for discovering talents such as the Brazilian Ronaldo, one of the best strikers the game has ever seen as well as Dutch prodigies Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Arjen Robben.

Chelsea fans would therefore be forgiven for thinking that Arnesen would bring an age of world class talent to Stamford Bridge, aiding the Blues’ in their quest to become the best club in the world. However results are very much still pending. Whilst the Dane has bought in talent,  as he was believed to be responsible for the signings of Salomon Kalou and John Obi Mikel, he has yet to really live up to his bidding. With the greatest respect for Kalou and Mikel, they are solid squad players and they offer Chelsea options, but they are no Ronaldo, Nistelrooy or Robben.

The Dane has also been blamed for the departure of the most popular manager in my Chelsea lifetime, Jose Mourinho. Mourinho was rumoured to have blamed Arnesen for the lack of youth development at the Bridge and it is believed that his unsettling influence was one of the reasons the special one left. If this is the case then this is a further reason that Chelsea fans should be sceptical about Arnesen.

Arnesen has been brought back into the limelight recently as he was the main man responsible for the signing of Gael Kakuta, and although the youngster is proving to be one hell of a hot prospect, we all know it was a move that had huge repercussions, resulting in the transfer embargo that has been bestowed upon Chelsea. His involvement with this transfer has left Arnesen even more unpopular with Chelsea fans and he has been under much pressure since this. Kakuta could obviously turn out to be worth the trouble but in my opinion, as a Chelsea fan myself; it seems like even when Arnesen captures some great youth talent, there is still a reason to be unsure about him. Having been rumoured to have spent £62 million on the youth system, Chelsea fans will have expected better results, despite the fact that the youth team reached the youth cup final for the first time in 47 years in 2007-08. In all fairness to Arnesen however, Chelsea is not the easiest club to develop youth talent. Although by no means totally ignoring it, Chelsea find themselves in a situation where every game is one of such high pressure that the youngsters are not given enough first team chances. It is safe to say the Blue’s are no Arsenal when it comes to putting their faith in young talent on the big stage and this does make Arnesen’s job that great deal harder.