Fair to say, since Todd Boehly, Behdad Eghbali and José E. Feliciano's takeover of Chelsea in 2022, they have been rather busy in the transfer market. During this timeframe, over £1 billion has been spent on 58 recruits.
Among them, João Pedro, Pedro Neto, Christopher Nkunku, Moisés Caicedo, Roméo Lavia, Marc Cucurella, Wesley Fofana, Enzo Fernández and Mykhailo Mudryk have all cost £50 million or above. Clearlake's strategy is pretty unique in world football, operating at Chelsea more like a player trading platform rather than a football club.
Noni Madueke is the prime example of this. He arrived from PSV Eindhoven for £29 million in January 2023, before being sold to Arsenal for £52 million two and a half years later. This represents a tidy profit, with the ownership unconcerned whether or not his replacements Alejandro Garnacho and Jamie Gittens are actually producing more on the pitch.
Well, this lack of control when it comes to transfers is ultimately what caused friction between the hierarchy and Enzo Maresca, leading to his sacking on New Year's Day. Thus, it should be no surprise that Clearlake turned to Liam Rosenior, someone already operating within the BlueCo ecosystem to replace him, but will this be a success?
Liam Rosenior's experience with BlueCo
After previous stints in charge of Derby and Hull, Rosenior spent 18 months with Ligue 1 side Strasbourg. He won 31 of 63 matches in charge of les Bleu et Blanc, leading them into a major UEFA group stage for the first time in two decades, finishing top of this season's Conference League table.
Strasbourg were bought by Blue Co in the summer of 2023, something their supporters are not very happy about, protesting against Boehly during every match at Stade de la Meinau. This is even though le Racing's results have actually massively improved since then, concerned that their identity is being eroded, simply used as Chelsea's feeder club. Well, there has certainly been plenty of crossover between the two.
Players who have moved between Chelsea & Strasbourg (2023-present)
Players | Apps for Chelsea | Apps for Strasbourg |
|---|---|---|
Ben Chilwell | 107 | 17 |
Diego Moreira Jr | 1 | 59 |
Emmanuel Emegha | 0 | 71 |
Kendry Páez | 0 | 20 |
Mathis Amougou | 2 | 16 |
Julio Enciso | 0 | 16 |
Mamadou Sarr | 1 | 44 |
Mike Penders | 0 | 26 |
Andrey Santos | 27 | 45 |
Ângelo Gabriel | 0 | 25 |
Đorđe Petrović | 31 | 31 |
Caleb Wiley | 0 | 6 |
Since the start of last season, 12 players have been on the books of both Chelsea and Strasbourg, including eight current squad members in the Alsace. This number includes les Bleu et Blanc's captain Emmanuel Emegha, scorer of 14 Ligue 1 goals last season, who has already agreed to join Chelsea in the summer, with Julio Enciso, once of Brighton, set to follow suit.
Former Bournemouth and Wolves boss Gary O'Neil was the surprise choice to replace Rosenior at Strasbourg, so perhaps he'll be in the Stamford Bridge home dugout in six months or so time.
What BlueCo are doing in France, buying and selling players in high quantity, is what they're looking to replicate at a higher level in West London. Thus, Rosenior will certainly know what to expect, now allowed to work with the best BlueCo has to offer.