It feels like it is only a matter of time before Liam Rosenior is announced as the new Chelsea manager. Are we entirely convinced that he is the right man for the job? No. But there are things to like about the Strasboug boss for sure and it would be a mistake to count him out before even seeing the Blues kick a ball under his management.
The fact of the matter is that Rosenior has overdelivered at both Hull City and Strasbourg. If he can do the same at Chelsea, he will add a few trophies to the cabinet.
At Hull City, he helped them to a seventh-place finish, narrowly missing out on the play-offs. He departed in the summer, and in the following season, they finished 21st in the Championship. On the other hand, Strasbourg also finished seventh in Ligue 1 last time around. In the process, he improved them by six positions and 18 points from the previous campaign.
Will any of that translate to Chelsea? He won't have seen such expectations in the past. And it is questionable if any manager can survive the structure and transfer model that the Clearlake-Boehly ownership have put in place at the club.
Rosenior tipped to unlock Chelsea player who struggled under Maresca
At the very least, Rosenior might end up improving some players. That is something that he is known to do and prides himself on.
Journalist Barry Cooper recently told football.london about Rosenior:
"He'll love Reece James, who should be England's right-back at the World Cup if he can stay fit, and somebody like Jamie Gittens could also flourish under him, and so, too, Tyrique George, but he won't be afraid to promote players from the academy if he believes they're good enough."
James is the kind of player you expect to flourish under any manager. On the other hand, the same cannot be said about Gittens, who was signed for a big transfer fee in the summer and has barely been a fixture for Chelsea since then.
You do not spend north of £50 million on a bit-part rotational winger, that is for sure. But that is exactly what Gittens has been for Chelsea since his summer arrival from Borussia Dortmund. Either there is a player in him that Maresca could not unlock, or it was simply a bad signing. Let's hope it is the former and Rosenior gets the best out of him.