Seven games into his tenure as Chelsea manager, Liam Rosenior could hardly have hoped for a better start. So far, the Englishman has won six of his seven matches in charge, his sole defeat coming in the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final against Arsenal, beaten 3-2 at Stamford Bridge. Nevertheless, with the second leg to come at the Emirates on Tuesday, the Blues still have a chance to put that right and reach next month's final at Wembley.
Courtesy of back-to-back wins, Chelsea have qualified for the Champions League round of 16, likely to face Paris Saint-Germain or Newcastle in March. Elsewhere, Saturday's dramatic come from behind win over West Ham means Rosenior is just the fourth English manager to win their first three Premier League matches. The others? Bobby Gould, Sam Allardyce and Craig Shakespeare.
In the transfer market, while Chelsea have not made any senior additions this month, a player Rosenior knows rather well could be on his way back to West London. So, could this be a game-changing move ahead of a hectic second half of the campaign?
Chelsea's like a new signing on deadline day
As has been reported by Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea will recall Mamadou Sarr from his loan spell at Strasbourg before the transfer window closes as 7pm on Monday. Les Bleu et Blanc are, of course, also owned by BlueCo, half of their squad have some connection to Chelsea one way or another, so Rosenior will know the player very well.
After beginning his career at Olympique Lyonnais, Sarr joined Strasbourg in the summer of 2024, before signing an eight-year contract at Chelsea a year later, reportedly costing £12 million. To date, he has made just one appearance for the West London-based outfit, seeing an eight minute cameo against Espérance Sportive de Tunis in Philadelphia during the Club World Cup.
Since then however, he has been a key figure in Ligue 1, as well as winning the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal, starting their historic final victory over hosts Morocco in Rabāṭ last month. So, how do his club performances compare to those of Chelsea's existing centre-back options?
Mamadou Sarr vs Chelsea centre-back 2025/26
Statistics | Mamadou Sarr | Tosin Adarabioyo | Wesley Fofana | Trevoh Chalobah | Benoît Badiashile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Minutes | 1,305 | 705 | 853 | 2,012 | 471 |
Passing accuracy % | 95% | 91% | 91% | 92% | 93% |
Ground duels won | 2.2 | 1.7 | 2.9 | 2.3 | 1.8 |
Tackles | 1.1 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.4 |
Interceptions | 0.7 | 1.1 | 2.2 | 1.2 | 2 |
Ball recoveries | 5 | 2.3 | 4.8 | 4 | 3.1 |
Touches | 79 | 100 | 80 | 85 | 95 |
Note: Stats via Squawka. League stats only. All stats are per 90 minutes.
The numbers show that, pretty much across the board, Sarr's statistics this season are comparable to those of Chelsea's existing centre-back options. He boasts the highest passing accuracy percentage as well as ranking first in terms of ball recoveries, while generally middling for everything else.
Nevertheless, still only 20 years old, the AFCON champion is clearly a player of great potential, one of the most talented youngsters in his position around. Few will know him better than Rosenior so, if he feels Sarr can come in and add to what Chelsea have already got for the remainder of this campaign, the Senegalese defender could prove to be the archetypal like a new signing on deadline day.