Liam Rosenior breaks silence on replacing Enzo Maresca – and he's already set Chelsea condition - The Mirror

Liam Rosenior has emerged as a top candidate to replace Enzo Maresca as Chelsea head coach after impressing in France with BlueCo's Strasbourg, and he's now spoken out too

Liam Rosenior has broken his silence on the now vacant role at Chelsea, as rumours swirl about the current Strasbourg head coach potentially succeeding Enzo Maresca at Stamford Bridge. The club announced on Thursday that Maresca had departed just 48 hours after the 2-2 draw with AFC Bournemouth.

During his debut campaign, Maresca secured qualification for the Club World Cup and Conference League, whilst also steering the Blues back into the Champions League. Rosenior has emerged as a contender to succeed the Italian following his impressive work at Strasbourg, which also falls under the BlueCo ownership umbrella.

Reports have stated that the 41-year-old has caught the eye of decision-makers in west London throughout his spell in France. Last term, the ex-Hull City manager guided Strasbourg to Conference League qualification with a squad featuring promising young talent.

Rosenior has regularly masterminded notable victories against Paris Saint-Germain, Olympique Lyonnais, and Marseille. Whether he'll be named as Maresca's permanent replacement remains uncertain.

On Friday, Rosenior sat down with the media in France ahead of Strasbourg's Ligue 1 clash with OGC Nice. The 41-year-old side-stepped questions linking him with a move to London, saying: "I'm going to talk about Nice because that's my job."

He added: "There's a lot of noise, a lot of speculation, but as a coach, if you get involved in that, you fail. My job is here, I love this club.

"No, I haven't spoken to the players about it. There's no need, they're connected and I've had a few lighthearted jokes. But we've been focused on our work. The goal is to continue creating great things here.

"In life, there are zero guarantees. You never know what tomorrow will bring. I'm just doing my job. There's already been speculation. I don't want to guarantee how long I'll be here, but I enjoy myself here every day. I intend to continue doing so as long as I'm here. I love this club, but I can't guarantee anything. Nobody can."

Rosenior also said: "I want to do my job here, it's simple. The reality today is that I am the manager of Strasbourg and I am focused on my position.

"There are exchanges because we are part of the same group," he admitted. "I'm honest, you can never control everything in life. I could say I'm going to stay here for years and then get fired."

Nevertheless, should he get the nod, Rosenior has previously shared his thoughts on Chelsea's historical approach to managers and what's required to thrive at the club, as reported by Football London.

During an appearance on Sky Sports' 'The Debate' in 2019, Rosenior effectively made clear his conditions for taking over a club like Chelsea, as he stressed that managers deserve sufficient time to execute their vision and that constantly dismissing them is counterproductive.

"We talk about Antonio Conte's frustration, in terms of the transfer window and bringing the players he wants to fit into how he wants to play," he said.

"He was so outspoken with his frustration at the time. Now you bring in another manager [Maurizio Sarri], a completely different philosophy. Are you going to back him? Or is it going to be another case of, 'It's not working, let's jump to the next manager.'

"Another manager comes in and wants this player and that player. It's not going to work that way. There's going to come a point where you're going to have to go through some difficult times in order to get long-term success.

"It's so difficult. The task for the Chelsea board is to say, 'Is this the guy that we're going to back for the long term?' Being backed by the board isn't just about the transfer budget.

"The recent history of the club is that if things go wrong and not how we want, we change the manager. That automatically puts pressure on Sarri. For me, there comes a point where you say, 'That's our manager for the next two years, the reason we appointed him is to build something.'

"At the moment, Chelsea are behind Manchester City and Liverpool. So what do you expect them to do?"

These remarks were made during Roman Abramovich's tenure as owner of the west London club. The Russian oligarch offloaded the Blues to Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital in May 2022 for a staggering £4.25billion, yet the revolving door policy in the dugout has persisted.

Thomas Tuchel was at the helm when the takeover took place, but his tenure was cut short early in the 2022/23 season. Graham Potter's reign lasted less than seven months before Frank Lampard stepped in on a temporary basis.

Mauricio Pochettino took charge at Chelsea for just a single season, and Maresca's one-and-a-half-year stint is the longest under the present owners. The Italian was appointed after just one season at Leicester City.

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