Liam Rosenior to Chelsea: Who is Strasbourg boss and the leading contender for the Blues job after Enzo Maresca's exit?

You'd have got good odds on Liam Rosenior becoming Chelsea head coach within two years when he was unceremoniously sacked by Hull in May 2024.

But just as Strasbourg has become somewhat of a feeder club for BlueCo to develop players before moving them across to Chelsea, it appears they have decided to do the same for the management team too with Rosenior the leading contender to replace Enzo Maresca.

A club realistically yearning for a return to challenging for Premier League and Champions League titles may not make such a move, but this is the model Chelsea are looking to adopt. Maresca's final line-up was the youngest named by any Premier League team all season, and now his potential successor would become the third-youngest manager in the division.

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That does not mean Rosenior joins without experience. He has managed over 150 matches and spent three years as a coach beforehand too. More than enough to delve into his management style and playing philosophy.

More than enough time too for Hull owner Acun Ilicali to decide his playing style was not a fit for the club when sacking him despite leading them to seventh in the Championship.

"Liam is a very good coach and will be very successful. He is young and is a very good character who makes the team love him," Ilicali told BBC Sport shortly after his sacking. "His football philosophy is very good and may be successful but we didn't see it suiting our character for the future."

That controlled, passing style on the ball has evolved at Strasbourg to incorporate a higher press off it - the sixth-best in Ligue 1 this season - and would not require any significant uprooting of Maresca's philosophies should he take to the training pitches next week.

That may disappoint some Chelsea fans, but not the hierarchy whose issues with Maresca had little to do with his playing style.

There is method in their rationale in appointing Rosenior beyond convenience. There are many unanswered questions about Rosenior's abilities at the top level, but those bringing him in know they would be appointing a man who can and already does fit into their structure more willingly than his predecessor.

While Maresca's reign fell apart after falling out with his medical team over the availability of his big-name, experienced players, Rosenior's debut in the Strasbourg dugout saw him name Ligue 1's first ever all-French, all U23 outfield line-up - Chelsea's average age against Bournemouth was only 23 years and 157 days, for comparison - in a season where he led the club to just its second top-seven finish since 1981.

That was aided by the fifth-highest spend in Ligue 1 last season - and three loans from Chelsea - but in his first season managing in top-flight football, Rosenior faced raised expectations and met them.

He has long been seen as a natural manager and there were half-serious, half-tongue-in-cheek suggestions from Derby fans he was the 'brains' behind the operation in an 18-month spell acting as Wayne Rooney's assistant at Pride Park, the closest he had been to any top job to that point.

"Without that experience with Wayne, I don't think I would be the manager I am now," he told The Athletic recently - but judging by the trajectory of both men's careers since, one certainly benefited more than the other.

It is still eye-opening that the pair parted ways following Derby's relegation to League One only three and a half years ago and yet Rosenior is about to be named manager of the team which won the Club World Cup less than six months ago.

But Rosenior has made a reputation for being smart and astute as much as a rousing motivator.

He knew joining BlueCo could eventually present this opportunity to him, though even he may admit it has come sooner than expected.

(c) Sky Sports 2026: Liam Rosenior to Chelsea: Who is Strasbourg boss and the leading contender for the Blues job after Enzo Maresca's exit?