Liam Rosenior made history with Strasbourg – here’s why he’s perfect for Chelsea job

Liam Rosenior is one of the best coaches modern Chelsea could actually appoint – it’s not fair to compare him to a Jose Mourinho.

That is the view of European football expert Andy Brassell, who says Rosenior is the correct fit even without the BlueCo connection.

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English manager Rosenior has flown to London to complete the formalities of his switch from Strasbourg, talkSPORT understands.

The 41-year-old is expected to instantly take the reins for Chelsea’s Premier League game at Fulham on Wednesday.

The ex-Hull City boss was immediately installed as favourite to succeed Enzo Maresca in SW6 following his New Year’s Day exit.

A large factor behind that is Rosenior’s impressive work at Strasbourg, who have the same owners as Chelsea.

The two clubs have had a symbiotic relationship between players since BlueCo bought the French outfit in 2023, with twelve direct transfers (loan and permanent) conducted in the past three years.

Some of those deals have raised eyebrows, with Mamadou Sarr returning on loan to Strasbourg two months after making a £12m move to Stamford Bridge in June, and Ishe Samuels-Smith rejoining Chelsea on deadline day – 33 days after he’d been sold to Le Racing.

Rosenior would represent the first manager to make the switch between the two sister sides, but Brassell argued it’s fully merited.

Strasbourg finished seventh last season to qualify for Europe for the first time in six years before embarking on a fine start to this year.

Le RCS topped the league phase of the Europa League Conference League as one of only two unbeaten teams, while they won six of their first 10 Ligue 1 games, despite becoming the first team in any of the top five leagues to put out an 11 exclusively of players born in the 21st century.

Strasbourg have only won twice in the league since the beginning of October, a run that would have at one time led to the sack at Chelsea.

‘This is a different Chelsea’

Brassell has pointed out that this isn’t the club that’s building around a John Terry, Didier Drogba and a Frank Lampard.

“I don’t think we can compare current Chelsea to that because that’s not the way that things have been run under Todd Boehly and under Clearlake…

“But if we’re talking about how Rosenior makes sense to this modern Chelsea, he’s a illuminated.

“And if it’s not just about the results, if it’s about collateral, if it’s about the moneyball side of it, if it’s about hoarding young players and making them into the best they can be, he’s possibly one of the better coaches that you could actually appoint, even forgetting about the BlueCo connection.

“You look at the players who’ve come a really, really long way again under him.

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A brilliant developer of players

“Not just at Emmanuel Emegha, who of course will be joining him at Stamford Bridge later this year. You’re looking at Diego Moreira, who was at Chelsea before and didn’t really look a top-flight player in his previous loan at Lyon. And he’s become a really, really good wingback there.

“You look at Joaquin Panichelli, who’s the successor up front to Emegha. Again, someone who you wouldn’t rule out of a Chelsea move in future.

“So very much like Chelsea, we know Rosenior’s had some players that other clubs in France can’t afford.

“We know he’s had some quality players, but he has made them into the players they should be.

“In some cases, like the case of Moreira, made them into more than perhaps people thought they could be as well.

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“I think it’s not just about someone who’s a great communicator, a great motivator, someone who has got a collective philosophy, but he’s good at getting inside the heads of players and really improving individual players as well.

“Now, of course, all of his coaching in Strasbourg has been exclusively in English, really, not French, because they have that sort of multinational angle to them as well.

“And that is the case in a lot of dressing rooms across Europe nowadays. But really, comparing him to previous Chelsea coaches and saying, this isn’t the equal of a Mourinho or a Conte, as we were saying before, that is not where Chelsea are at now.

“And for where they’re at, it’s a really, really logical choice.

“Whether that means he’s a great Chelsea coach or a good Chelsea coach for the next three, four, five years, of course, there’s a huge question mark over that.

“But there’s a lot of lateral sense to it.”