More eyebrows have been raised by Michael Emenalo's appointment last week as Chelsea's new chief scout.

The Observer says while Emenalo, 42, is a former Nigeria international, he never played top-level European football and his most recent position was as director of player development at Tuscon Soccer Academy in the United States.

His coaching responsibility there was for one of the academy's girls' teams. He did, though, spend the final two years of his playing career under Grant at Maccabi Tel Aviv. Emenalo's brief as tactical scout is to observe and compile reports on Chelsea's opponents. He replaces Andre Villas Boas who was known for delivering some of the most comprehensive reports in the business.

A Chelsea spokesman said: "We regard the coaching issue as totally irrelevant to his job and he has the total confidence of Avram and everyone at the club."