Less than two years after being sacked by Hull City, Liam Rosenior has been named Chelsea head coach, barely 24 hours after the English club terminated the contract of its manager, Enzo Maresca.
Since leaving Hull, Rosenior has built a reputation as one of Europe’s brightest young managers during his 18 months at Chelsea’s sister club, Strasbourg. The performance earned him the nickname of an “innovator” and someone going “straight to the top”.
The 41-year-old has impressed the Chelsea hierarchy, working in the same structure that led to friction between the FIFA Club World Cup winner and his predecessor.
But why have they opted for another relatively inexperienced manager, and the first black manager of the London club, is Rosenior ready for the Premier League?
There is pressure on Chelsea to get this appointment right, with some supporters chanting the name of former owner Roman Abramovich during Sunday’s draw at Manchester City and a fringe group of fans planning a protest against the owners before the next home Premier League match against Brentford.
It is against that backdrop that the club turned to a man who is well known to key figures at Stamford Bridge.
Rosenior first met Chelsea’s co-sporting directors, Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, more than 15 years ago while playing for Brighton.
And Sam Jewell – Chelsea’s director of global recruitment – worked closely with Rosenior when he began coaching Brighton Under-23s after retiring.
Rosenior also knew Stewart during his time as an analyst at Hull, where he played and later managed.
Last summer, during the Club World Cup, he travelled to the United States with Strasbourg president Marc Keller to meet Chelsea’s leadership, and owners Behdad Eghbali and Todd Boehly have made regular visits to the French club.
He has always been seen as a potential successor to Maresca, but a mid-season change was not planned. Chelsea hoped Rosenior could continue to build experience at Strasbourg, but Maresca’s comments at the end of last year forced the owners into a change.
They see their new man, who favours a similar possession-based style, as the most seamless option.
Sources close to Rosenior also believe he has a more empathetic tone of communication – drawing on lessons from his mother, Karen, who is a social worker.
He will face scrutiny over his perceived rawness, but Chelsea will point to the fact that he has more experience than Maresca when the Italian was appointed in 2024.
Maresca had won the Championship, of course, while Rosenior has yet to lift a trophy – but the incoming coach has managed 153 senior games at Hull and Strasbourg compared with his predecessor’s 67. Maresca was also Pep Guardiola’s assistant during Manchester City’s Treble-winning season of 2022-23.
There is also the issue of Rosenior coming to Chelsea on a bad run of form, having won none of his past five Ligue 1 matches, just two in 10, and having dropped 13 points from winning positions this season.
French football expert, Julien Laurens, told newsmen that “I really believe the owners put him in the Strasbourg job to get him ready for the Chelsea job one day.
“I think if he showed he could be capable at Strasbourg, which is taking a team which was almost going down into Europe, to taking it close to Champions League qualification, which is what he did last season.
“I think that showed his potential. It showed his development, showed his ability to improve the team and players individually.”
Why will Rosenior be different?
Maresca has picked the youngest average starting XI – aged 24 years and 198 days – in the Premier League so far this season. His final match in charge featured his youngest line-up of the season, with an average age of 23 years and 157 days.
And his wish for the club to sign some more experienced players is felt to have sparked some of the discontent that led to his departure.
But the Blues are confident history is unlikely to repeat itself with Rosenior, who at Strasbourg led the youngest team in Europe’s big five leagues, with an average age of just 21.47.
They believe he understands the brief, which places significant importance on improving younger players, either to sell or to take the club to the next level.
Among his successes at Strasbourg, Rosenior has developed striker Emmanuel Emegha to a level that means he is set to join Chelsea next season.
In addition, he guided his young squad to a seventh-place finish last season – earning a Europa Conference League spot, and matching a position achieved only twice since 1981. During his first season, they came close to Champions League qualification.
There will be inevitable accusations that Chelsea are bringing in Rosenior as a ‘yes man’, a stance that was echoed earlier by the club’s former player, Pat Nevin, saying he believes the club would get someone in who is young and easy to manipulate.
“Chelsea needs someone who is going to buy into the methodology. Another way to say that is, you need a puppet. Someone who does exactly what they are told from above.”
Chelsea, of course, may disagree with the claim, and stressed that they have hired an outstanding candidate capable of changing the club’s fortune.
‘Passionate and not afraid to make big decisions, ‘ Rosenior has built a reputation as a rising star in coaching.
Strasbourg president, Marc Keller, has described him as an innovator, praising his ability to understand their vision and immediately carry it out.
Defender, Ben Chilwell, meanwhile, has said Rosenior is going “straight to the top”, adding: “He is the reason I joined the club.”
After watching Rosenior’s hands-on training sessions at Strasbourg, former Manchester United defender Phil Jones, said: “I was really impressed with the way he spoke with the players, the meetings, the way he sees the game.
“He is passionate and is not afraid to make big decisions. They went to Paris St-Germain and went man-to-man all over the pitch and got a result – a 3-3 draw at Parc des Princes. Chelsea fans may want a sexier name, but he has done a good job, and it is an opportunity too good to turn down.”
Former England striker, Wayne Rooney, who had Rosenior as his assistant manager at Derby County, described him “as good a coach as I have worked with”.
Chelsea’s first black British manager
Before moving into coaching, Rosenior played in both the Premier League and EFL – just as his father Leroy had done.
Both Roseniors had unsuccessful trials at Chelsea, but Liam, who was born in Wandsworth, has now signed – becoming the first black British head coach of a club that was plagued by racist incidents until the late 1990s.
“Liam Rosenior is a quality coach who knows the game inside out, and that’s what matters most.
“But, as Chelsea’s first black player, I would be lying if I said this moment doesn’t move me. It is a massive moment for the club, for London, for every young person dreaming big. But right now? Let’s back Liam, give him what he needs, and let the man do his work”, Paul Canoville added.
