Revealed: The email that left Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea chief Marina Granovskaia, ‘football’s most powerful woman’, feeling ‘physically threatened’ in agent row over £300,000 transfer payments

Marina Granovskaia felt ‘physically threatened’ by an email sent to her by football agent Saif Rubie, a court heard today.

Speaking publicly for the first time since leaving Chelsea in 2022, Granovskaia – previously a Chelsea director – described her fears after receiving an email from Rubie demanding money he believed he was owed money from the deal that saw Kurt Zouma leave Stamford Bridge for West Ham.

Giving testimony in court on Tuesday morning, Granovskaia was asked by prosecuting solicitors Arizuna Asante how she felt upon receiving the email.

She responded: ‘Very uncomfortable would be an understatement. I felt physically threatened because of the language being used made it personal because he referred to the Kia [Joorabchian] incident.’

Earlier in the day, Mr Asante told the court that Mr Joorabchian was confronted in a restaurant by people acting for defendant Rubie which saw Joorabchian have his watch taken from him and told it wouldn’t be returned until a payment was made later.

Football agent Rubie (above) is accused of breaching the Malicious Communications Act

Kurt Zouma’s £29.1m move to West Ham from Chelsea in 2021 is at the centre of the trial 

Rubie is alleged to have demanded payment for his role in Zouma’s transfer to the Hammers 

It was added that approximately twelve men turned up at Joorabchian’s office started to intimidate and demand money from him saying that the defendant wanted his money.

The email allegedly sent to Granovskaia from Rubie read: ‘At the end of a very unique season for you and Chelsea comes to an end I am writing you to address the outstanding issues we have between us from the last 2 years.

‘I will try to keep this email as short as possible and to the point.

‘I was with Pini [Zahavi] (an agent) in Dubai recently and he told me that you had agreed to paying me (and my 2 partners on that deal) 300K GPB for bringing you the offer from West Ham for Kurt Zouma.

‘However Pini told me that you said you would pay me that money from other business in the future, hinting towards [Antonio] Rudiger. As you clearly know from the time I offered you a chance to extend the contract of Antonio by an extra year on the same salary and you refused and started playing games.

‘You went to Sahr [Senesie] (an agent) and started making up lies about me and HMRC regarding why you didn’t want to deal with me. That alone was defamatory and cost me a lot of business and trust due to your lies.

‘The truth is from that moment I shouldn’t have dealt with you again but I’m a gentleman and thought that you would be correct and due to my close personal relations to Sahr and his brother and family and big business I do with them away from football I was not going to make an issue of your slander towards me even though you tried your best to cut me out of business that I work very hard for and have never done anything wrong with you over the years but it seems you have an issue with me.’

Mail Sport previously reported how Zouma’s switch to the London Stadium and the amount he was sold for will be crucial in the trial as the jury decide whether the alleged demand for payment from Rubie to Granovskaia was ‘reasonable’.

The court heard that the total fee of the move was £29.1million, including a £4.1m severance payment to Zouma.

Meanwhile, former Blues player Rudiger had been mentioned in court as an individual who could become a person of interest in the case, with the now-Real Madrid defender leaving Chelsea in the summer of 2022 after he was unable to agree a new deal.

Granovskaia was left feeling ‘physically threatened and very uncomfortable’ by the email

She was a key figure at Chelsea in the Roman Abramovich era before her departure in 2022

The threatening email also included reference to Antonio Rudiger’s exit from Chelsea in 2022

Rubie’s email continued: ‘Then the way you have been with me was finally confirmed when I was in Abu Dhabi for the club World Cup when I went to visit Antonio and he told me that you had approached him questioning why he was friendly with me and was happy to deal with me.

‘Who do you think you are going to players in this way and talking rubbish about me? What have I done to you to make you so bitter and terrible towards me? So for that I will give you a chance to make things correct if you apologise for your behaviour towards me.

‘If you don’t then I promise you I will make you pay for the way you have been with me on a personal and business level. This is not a threat so take it how you want.

‘This is a promise that I give to anybody who f****/tries to f*** me over in anything in life. I’m pretty sure you would never approach Lukaku and tell him why he is with [Federico] Pastorello your special friend.

‘In summary you owe me and my partners 300k which needs to get paid ASAP. If Chelsea don’t pay it then that debt will be on you to pay. I am done trying to be nice to you.

‘And feel free to go to your boss who’s had his recent problems and tell him that you have a big problem with me as long as you tell him the truth about your behaviour. Because in life you can’t be wrong and strong.

Prosecutors also referred to an incident when football agent Kia Joorabchian (left) was confronted in a restaurant by people acting for defendant Rubie, claiming he owed money

Zouma spent seven years at Chelsea, making 151 appearances in all competitions for the Blues

‘I look forward to hearing from you on the above matters and hopefully have a swift solution to them otherwise I guess I will see you when I see you.

‘I’m sure you’ve heard the story about your other friend Kia when he owed me money for a year and how he ended up paying it. Wouldn’t want you to be in the same situation just because you have a personal issue with me.’

Rubie is accused of breaching the Malicious Communications Act by sending a threatening email to Granovskaia. Rubie denies the charge.

The trial continues.