‘Next Chelsea manager’ on rival radar as Blues worry over Maresca succession plan
Chelsea have their “next manager” after Enzo Maresca in view already, but there is some worry over whether he might be able to take a rival job before that happens.
Maresca has been the Chelsea boss since the beginning of the 2024/25 season. He guided the Blues to a fourth-placed finish in his first campaign and they’re currently third.
Chelsea fans expect a lot, so there have been times already when calls for his head have been made, but he seems largely safe given current form.
In any case, the London club have his successor in mind. According to insider Graeme Bailey, Liam Rosenior – in charge at BlueCo group club Strasbourg – is their preferred option, but he could take another Premier League job beforehand.
Bailey told the Chelsea Chronicle: “There’s loads of Championship jobs, and that’s not really a worry for BlueCo, but Chelsea, I think in an ideal world they would love for Rosenior to be the next Chelsea manager.
“Not until in three or four years’ time, but then again, do they allow him to go. I think within the club they are discussing do they allow him to go to a Fulham, to a Bournemouth, if those jobs become available.
“Then it’s a natural progression to Chelsea anyway so basically there’s going to be more and more jobs coming up. So, yeah, it’s an interesting one for them to get into.”
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There is of course a danger if Rosenior heads to one of those clubs that he begins to have success and doesn’t look to leave, where at Strasbourg, the natural progression would be to move to Chelsea at some point.
That all depends on what success Maresca can have, though, as if he remains more successful than Rosenior, there’s no reason for the former Hull man to replace him.
The job Rosenior is currently doing at Strasbourg is a very good one, though. In his first season in charge, the Ligue 1 club finished seventh, and they are currently fourth in the league.
That they are just five points behind the star-studded Paris Saint-Germain squad shows what a good job Rosenior is doing, and therefore how he might do at Chelsea against the might of some of the other English big-six sides.
Whether or not he takes a job between Strasbourg and Chelsea – and ends up at Stamford Bridge at all – remains to be seen.
