Chelsea’s ownership group, BlueCo, appear ready to extend their multi-club model beyond players — and into the dugout.
Just as Strasbourg has served as a proving ground for Chelsea-bound talent, it has now become a managerial incubator. Liam Rosenior, currently in charge there, is the leading contender to replace Enzo Maresca.
This isn’t a romantic appointment for a club chasing instant glory. It’s a calculated one. Chelsea’s hierarchy are doubling down on youth, structure and long-term development. Maresca named the youngest XI in the Premier League this season. Rosenior, at 41, would become the division’s third-youngest manager.
Inexperience? Not quite. Rosenior has over 150 matches as a manager under his belt, plus three years as a coach. His
footballing identity — possession-based, controlled, now blended with an aggressive high press — aligns closely with Maresca’s ideas.
Strasbourg rank among Ligue 1’s best pressing sides this season, meaning Chelsea wouldn’t be tearing up the tactical blueprint.
Crucially, this is about fit as much as football. Maresca’s exit had little to do with style and more with structure, following tensions with Chelsea’s medical department over player availability. Rosenior is viewed internally as someone far more comfortable operating within BlueCo’s system.
His Strasbourg tenure has only strengthened that case. In his first top-flight season, he guided the club to a rare top-seven finish, even naming Ligue 1’s first-ever all-French, all-U23 outfield lineup.
Once dubbed the “brains” behind Wayne Rooney’s Derby County setup, Rosenior has quietly built a reputation as an intelligent, modern coach rather than a touchline firebrand. He knew joining BlueCo came with an opportunity. Even so, the speed of this rise has surprised many.
Rosenior, for now, is keeping his cards close.
In a pre-match press conference, he said: “I don’t know what’s to come. I have no idea what the future holds. “My focus is exactly the same as how it’s been when I first came into this job. My focus is the team, winning games, all the things I have to do with Strasburg being successful.”
“If anything else happens between now and the next six months, that’s out of my control.”
But the pathway is clear. Chelsea aren’t shopping for a superstar manager — they’re grooming one.
