Arnesen the key to Abramovich's plan

For someone who struggled to find work after discovering he was being forced out of PSV Eindhoven last year, Frank Arnesen has suddenly found he is a man in demand. Tottenham's suspended director of football is the subject of a bitter compensation battle with Chelsea, who want him to overhaul their scouting and youth programmes, which could yet go the way of most disputes involving the west Londoners - a Premier League inquiry.

Quite what Arnesen has done in the last 12 months to justify such an inflation in his reputation - he did sign Thimotee Atuba after all - is unclear, but Chelsea's grand plans are far more certain. The Premiership Champions want the Dane to establish the most comprehensive scouting and shipping network in football history.

The embittered and embarrassed Board members at White Hart Lane have already begun denigrating their former saviour's new role as that of a glorified scout, but Arnesen will not be spending his Wednesday afternoon's at a Barking school searching for the next John Terry.

Roman Abramovich has a global vision for Chelsea and Arnesen fits into this bigger picture. Having raised the bar on the field under Jose Mourinho, they are now intent on pulling further away off it as well.

Abramovich has transformed football since buying Chelsea two years ago, but there is more than rubles to the Russian revolution. Having made his billions by cultivating contacts in the Kremlin he has used the same skills to build up a series of alliances across Europe, sympathetic clubs with which to buy and sell players. Chelsea have already started buying up talented youngsters and sending them out to other clubs - Alcides at Benfica, Alex at PSV and Corinthians' latest signing Javier Mascherano are all destined to end up at Stamford Bridge, while Kaka recently revealed that he had the option to join CSKA Moscow en route to Chelsea when he signed for AC Milan.

This process will accelerate under Arnesen, the newest general in the Roman Empire. Abramovich has already worked twice with the 48-year-old, being involved in the deal that took Alex to PSV and paying the £12million required to take Arjen Robben to Chelsea, and was impressed with his negotiating skills and professionalism.

Such was Abramovich's determination to get his new man that he got his closest confidante, Eugene Tenenbaum, to do the deal, with the Canadian financier sending the fax to Spurs and Arnesen on 21 May that could trigger a Premier League inquiry.

Chelsea insist they have yet to speak to Arnesen directly but with no other candidates on their shortlist it is only a matter of time, and of course compensation, before he is unveiled as the club's Head of Scouting and Youth Development.

While also responsible for overhauling a woeful youth policy that has seen just Terry come through the ranks in recent years, the former Denmark midfielder's main role will be the identification and distribution of the best young players around the world. Having discovered Ronaldo, Ruud Van Nisteltrooy and Robben at PSV he will be asked to do the same again, with the added advantage of an almost limitless transfer kitty.

Abramovich believes that the John Obi Mikel debacle would not have occurred if Arnesen had been at Chelsea, but he will have adapt to some significant changes in his working environment.

From being in sole charge of all football business and transfer policy at Tottenham he will be number three behind Mourinho and Peter Kenyon, who retains control of the club on a day-to-day basis.

Arnesen will also have to work with Gywn Williams, who is expected to stay on as chief scouts despite interest from Fulham, while Andre Villas Boas remains the Orwellian-sounding Head of Observation, concentrating on forthcoming opponents.

If Arnesen is having any doubts about the move then the prospect of a basic salary of £2millionayear and the opportunity to sign players for several of Europe's top clubs should allay his fears.

As a man who collects footballers as if they were Panini soccer stickers - 25 new players have arrived at Tottenham in the last 12 months - he should get on well with Abramovich, and his wallet.

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