LONDON — Vinay Menon’s path to the Premier League started with a request from a former client in Dubai. Would Menon, a wellness consultant, travel to England to share his breathing and relaxation techniques with the man’s daughter and her husband, a wealthy Russian living in London.

Of course, Menon replied, even though he had never been to Britain. He met with the Russian and his wife at their home in West London, where the couple asked about Menon’s work, his background and the years he had spent studying and teaching yoga in his native India. Then they asked him if he would like to join them at a soccer game.

“I told them I didn’t have a ticket,” Menon said.

That would not be a problem, he was assured. Menon and his prospective employers made the short walk to Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium, where they were quickly ushered to the suite level. It was only then, after they emerged into the owner’s box and their faces appeared on the arena’s giant video screen, that things clicked into place for Menon: His host was not merely a wealthy Russian soccer fan. He was Roman Abramovich.

“I literally had no idea who he was,” Menon said. “I just knew him as Dasha’s husband.”

Menon struggles to contain his laughter as he retells the story. Now in his 11th season at Stamford Bridge, Menon, 45, occasionally surprises himself when he stops to think about how a chance meeting has led to a decade in professional soccer — a sport he knew next to nothing about when he made that first trip to London — and to his becoming a fixture in the locker room of one of the world’s richest teams and a valued confidant of some of the world’s best players.