Former Eagles defender and Chelsea director Michael Emenalo sacked by Monaco alongside Thierry Henry

FORMER Super Eagles defender and Chelsea's director of football Michael Emenalo has been sacked as Monaco's sporting director following the club's decision to part ways with manager Thierry Henry.

On Thursday, Monaco, the French Ligue One said, decided to terminate the contract of the former Arsenal legend Henry following a string of poor results. Monaco are sitting second from bottom in the 20-teanm French league and Henry, who took over in October, was in charge of the team for 104 days but could not turn their fortunes around.

Now the club have re-appointed former manager Leonardo Jardim, just some three months after he was sacked. Following the change of manager, Monaco have also decided to part ways with their sporting director, amid signs that Emenalo did not get on well with the club's vice president Vadim Vasilyev.

Henry won just two league games as Monaco boss and in the charged atmosphere at the club, Emenalo had reportedly fell out with Mr Vasilyev, all contributing to the club's poor run of form.  Monaco have only managed to win three league games so far this season and Mr Jardim, who had previously achieved great things with the club, is now tasked with saving them from relegation.

Mr Emenalo, 53, who featured for Nigeria at the 1994 World Cup, joined Monaco in November 2017 after leaving Chelsea but will not be part of the new regime. It is believed that Emenalo also endured a sour relationship with Mr Jardim, so following his return, it was thought that having them work together might be too big a risk to take.

Mr Henry said: "It is with great sadness that I part company with AS Monaco. Despite the struggles and difficulties that we encountered along my short journey, I have still thoroughly enjoyed my time at this wonderful club."

Mr Vasilyev added: "Our club is going through a very challenging period and I am ready to admit that I personally bear the responsibility for this. We have to acknowledge that during the summer transfer window, we sold too many key players and despite considerable investments, mistakes were made with respect to their replacement, this did not allow us to create a new, competitive team.

"The decision to dismiss Leonardo Jardim was also premature. I want to express my gratitude to Thierry Henry for accepting this challenge and trying to lead the team of his former club during such a difficult period, he would have probably needed more time to implement his plans."