Rosenior leading contender for Chelsea job

Due to internal conflict between the club’s management and management, former Leicester manager Maresca, 45, resigned from his position as Chelsea’s head coach on Thursday.

The search for a replacement for the Italian is in progress, and Rosenior is regarded as the front-runner despite sources claiming that other candidates are also being considered.

The consortium that was formed to buy Chelsea in 2022 is Rosenior’s current employers.

The 41-year-old previously led Hull, and his potential departure at Strasbourg is being considered for his position at Chelsea, according to sources who are familiar with his internal backing.

Francesco Farioli, a star of Porto, has also been mentioned as a potential contender.

Chelsea interviewed former Brentford manager Roberto de Zerbi, Ipswich counterpart Kieran McKenna, and Thomas Frank, who had previously moved to Tottenham before appointing Maresca in 2024.

Marco Silva of Fulham and Andoni Iraola of Bournemouth have previously been linked to the role, but it’s not clear if they are now contenders.

It’s unlikely that the club will switch to Oliver Glasner as manager of Crystal Palace because of how inconsistent their play is.

Although under-21s head coach Calum McFarlane will be in charge of a press conference to discuss the game on Friday, it is not yet known who will lead the team for Sunday’s game against Manchester City.

Rosenior led Strasbourg into Europe after being sacked by Hull in 2024 with a seventh-placed start in his first Ligue 1 season.

The French club, which is one of the conference league’s top teams, defeated Crystal Palace in November to put an end to the 36-team league phase.

Strasbourg, which is seventh in the league this year, has drawn three of their previous four games and lost three of them.

Rosenior’s reputation for developing players, his approach to play, and astute dressing room management led to his involvement with numerous clubs, including Bayer Leverkusen, last summer.

Although they dropped from sixth to eleventh in the Premier League during the 2023-2014 campaign, they did manage to make it to the Europa League’s last 16.

Before resigning from the south-coast club on mutual consent at the end of the season, De Zerbi, 46, was linked to a number of Premier League and European clubs.

Prior to his move to Portman Road, McKenna had attracted attention while working for Manchester United and Tottenham.

After previously holding managerial positions at Ajax and Nice under De Zerbi, Farioli left for Porto in July.

With 15 victories and 16 draws in Porto’s first 16 games of the season, the 36-year-old has elevated them to the top of the Portuguese Premier League.

Lampard, a legend since his debut at Stamford Bridge, is currently leading the Championship against Coventry.