Liam Rosenior: Chelsea's Manager of the Future

Who is Liam Rosenior? That name has suddenly surfaced as the strongest candidate to replace Enzo Maresca as the head coach of Chelsea. He has outperformed several prominent coaches currently available, such as Gareth Southgate, Xavi Hernandez, and Thiago Motta.

RC Strasbourg coach Rosenior has not denied rumors of a move to Chelsea. "In life, there are no guarantees at all. You never know what will happen tomorrow. I'm just doing my job. I don't want to guarantee how long I'll be here," he told L'Euqippe in a press conference ahead of the 17th week of the French League on Saturday (January 3, 2026).

The 41-year-old coach is reported to be very close to settling at Stamford Bridge, the home of Chelsea. The move from Strasbourg is not expected to be difficult. The club has already changed ownership to BlueCo, a consortium led by American businessmen Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali. Both are also owners of Chelsea.

Although influenced by "insiders," Rosenior would not be considered without strong reasons. Moreover, the next team is Chelsea. He is deemed worthy of promotion due to his label as one of the most talented young coaches in Europe today. His quality has been proven in the last two seasons at Strasbourg, which has the status of the youngest squad in Ligue 1.

Strasbourg successfully achieved seventh place in Rosenior's debut season, 2024-25. This ranking has been maintained until the halfway point of the season. Before the arrival of the former English league defender, Strasbourg was consistently trapped outside the top ten. They even came close to relegation in the 2022-23 season.

"The manager is very good at leading a dressing room full of young players. He's also very ambitious, he wants us to qualify for the Champions League, he wants us to win the Coupe de France, he wants us to win the Europa Conference Cup," Ben Chilwell, the former Chelsea full-back who joined Strasbourg last summer, told BBC Sport.

When considering the market value context of the Strasbourg squad, which ranks fourth highest in the league, Rosenior's achievements are relatively unremarkable. However, his task is not as easy as it may seem. The coach must lead a squad with an average age of 22.7 years. Almost all of his players are not accustomed to competing at the highest level.

Another advantage of Rosenior is his principle of playing elegantly. He does not have a specific preferred formation and can alternate between 4-2-3-1 and 3-4-3. His distinctive style of play becomes apparent when Strasbourg builds an attack. He favors a combination of short passes from the backline to initiate the offense.

Rosenior's hallmark is reflected in the statistics. Strasbourg is the team with the fewest long passes among all teams from the five best leagues in Europe, with only 511 passes. Barcelona, known for its "tiki-taka" style of play, recorded even more long passes, totaling 598.

Interestingly, the team coached by Rosenior was not passive at all. Strasbourg was still able to create numerous opportunities without direct passes from the back to the front. This is evident from the number of their through balls, 55 times, which is the highest in the domestic league.

The rigid identity certainly comes with the subsequent question. Can Rosenior adapt to the more complex English League? In England, many coaches alter their playing style because all teams dare to adopt an aggressive high-block defense. Even Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has had to compromise by increasing the number of long passes.

Regardless of that, Rosenior demonstrated that his style would be suitable for a major club like Chelsea. He desires game control and creativity simultaneously. Coupled with his ability to manage young players, Rosenior appears not too different from Maresca.

Rosenior has considerable experience compared to other coaches of his age. The former Brighton player has previously managed two clubs in England, specifically in the Championship division, namely Derby County and Hull City. He first served as the interim coach at Derby, and then led Hull for two seasons.

The problem is that the London-born coach lacks experience in leading a large team or one that competes in the top division of the English League. As is known, the pressure on top teams in the English League is different. From supporters, players, to the media, it makes the challenges more complex.

A new coach arrives and wants this player and that player. Not everything will work immediately; there will certainly be difficult moments for long-term success.

Maresca may be similar to Rosenior. He joined Chelsea only after leading the second division team Leicester City to promotion. The difference is that Maresca has already experienced the atmosphere of a big team when he served as an assistant to Guardiola at City. He learned a lot during the year before joining Leicester.

English coach Graham Potter experienced firsthand how challenging it is to manage a big team. He coached Chelsea after leading Brighton, which is actually categorized as a mid-table team. However, Potter was only able to last less than seven months before being dismissed in April 2023.

The greatest challenge will come from Chelsea itself. Rosenior may already be familiar with Boehly and Eghbali through their collaboration in Strasbourg. However, the demands at Chelsea will be different. He is no longer solely tasked with promoting young players, including accommodating Chelsea's "discarded" players, as he did in Strasbourg.

At Chelsea, his responsibilities have multiplied. Rosenior is certainly expected to enhance the value of the young players that the club has invested in. At the same time, he is also required to consistently achieve positive results to maintain "The Blues" status as a top-tier team. No coach has successfully navigated the trap of expectations under Boehly's ownership.

An old video of Rosenior has emerged amid transfer rumors. He commented on Chelsea on Sky Sports' "The Debate" in 2019. At the time, Chelsea had just replaced Antonio Conte with Maurizio Sarri as manager. Rosenior emphasized the importance of time and space for a coach to shine.

"The new coach arrives and wants this player and that player. Not everything will work immediately; there will certainly be difficult moments for long-term success. Support from the board of directors is not just about the budget. The club's history shows that if things do not go as desired, they will immediately replace the coach," explained the former player of the England U-21 national team.

As a context, Chelsea was still under the ownership of Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich at that time. Now, they are in a darker phase under the influence of Boehly and Eghbali. "The Blues" have had six coaches in the last three and a half years.

Interestingly, Rosenior's advice is increasingly relevant to Chelsea's current situation. Maresca was dismissed due to a poor relationship with the club's executives. Maresca did not receive full support in player acquisitions or squad selection. All the problems that Rosenior criticized during the Abramovich era have multiplied and worsened in the current ownership era.

In the renowned Indonesian film, "Sore: Wife from the Future," there is a wife who comes from the future to change her husband's fate. She returns to the past thousands of times so that her husband does not die at a young age. In the end, such great love can disrupt the theory of destiny.

The film's nuances are felt in Rosenior's current situation. Rosenior seems to travel back in time, appearing on Sky Sports to advise himself. He seems to already know what the future holds if he takes the job with "The Blues." The question is, will he listen to his 2019 self? (AP/REUTERS)