Key Highlights
- If you think that makes no sense -- a view taken by many confused Chelsea fans right now -- it is the reality of the "new" Chelsea under the control of Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali's Clearlake Capital. So don't be surprised that former Hull City manager Liam Rosenior, now coaching Chelsea's Ligue 1 partner club Strasbourg, is a leading candidate to take over from Maresca at Stamford Bridge.
- Rosenior is talented and well-regarded, but his last job in English football ended with the sack at Hull, so his appointment is unlikely to be well-received by the Chelsea fan base, just as Maresca's arrival was met with a lukewarm reception in 2024. Maresca parted company with Chelsea on New Year's Day after just 18 months in charge, despite delivering success in last season's UEFA Conference League and FIFA Club World Cup, and also securing UEFA Champions League qualification with a fourth-place finish in last season's Premier League. But winning is no longer the primary consideration at Chelsea.
- It is also about fitting in with the ownership's blueprint, and that involves young coaches with potential just as much as it revolves around recruiting the best emerging playing talent from all over the world. It is a club with two owners, two sporting directors -- Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart -- and a raft of other prominent figures in its so-called "integrated football leadership structure," including former Liverpool director of scouting and recruitment Dave Fallows and talent scouts Sam Jewell and Joe Shields.
- It is also a team that requires the head coach to heed the advice of medical staff rather than merely take it under consideration, so managing the team at Chelsea is a job that would likely lead an experienced manager to say, "Thanks, but no thanks" if an offer came his way. But that's Chelsea, and whether it is working or not is another matter.
- Measuring success at the modern Chelsea is no longer as straightforward as it used to be, and that is a big reason why Maresca is no longer in a job. For almost 20 years, under the ownership of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, Chelsea were all about big spending and ambition to match, with José Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Antonio Conte and Thomas Tuchel some of the blue-chip coaches hired by Abramovich. Abramovich demanded success, and he recruited the biggest names in coaching to deliver it.
