Ian Wright urges new Newcastle United owners to appoint Emenalo as their sporting director

FORMER Arsenal striker Ian Wright has urged English Premier League giants Newcastle United to immediately appoint former Super Eagles defender Michael Emenalo as its sporting director in a bid to stem the rot at the club.

Emenalo, 56, who won 14 caps for Nigeria and played in the 1994 Fifa World Cup for the Super Eagles, attracted global attention when he became sporting director at London club Chelsea on 8 July 2011. While at Stamford Bridge, Emenalo restructured the club's academy, scouting, loan and women's team setups and is credited as a key figure behind the club's success having overseen the scouting and transfers of key players including Juan Mata, Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah, N'Golo Kanté, Eden Hazard and Cesc Fàbregas.

On 6 November 2017, Emenalo resigned as her Chelsea technical director and at the end of that month joined Monaco as its sporting director. On October 7 this year, Newcastle became the wealthiest club in the world following its £305m acquisition by a Saudi-led consortium and is now looking to overhaul its management structure.

Among other things, Newcastle United is looking for both a manager and a sporting director to galvanise its transformation as one of the leading clubs in the world. Newcastle Evening Chronicle quoted Wright as having said that a massive problem would ensue in the event Emenalo not being considered for the role.

Wright said: "If they've got a list and he's not very high up on that list, then you know they have a massive problem. For that man to still not be in some form of football employment, at the level of football management, is still, for me, incredible. It really is."

Already, former Dutch star, Marc Overmars is one of the candidates speculated to have been sounded out for the sporting director role by Newcastle's new owners. In an interview last year, Emenalo was asked about his contribution at Chelsea and whether it would encourage more clubs to appoint black directors to which he answered in the affirmative.