The 41-year-old was bought from Strasbourg, where he was the head coach, and has now been confirmed as the replacement for Enzo Maresca, who was sacked by the club on January 1 after differences with the ownership became public.
Rosenior, who had already been working under the BlueCo group that owns both Chelsea and Strasbourg, quickly became the club’s preferred candidate.
After saying goodbye to the French team at the beginning of the week, he is now moving to London. Chelsea have introduced the former player of the club as their next head coach and have promised to back him in the long run based on his vision.
Rosenior will bring on board for the Chelsea project his two old comrades, Kalifa Cissé and Justin Walker, plus the head of analysis, Ben Warner. For his first public appearance after the announcement, Rosenior said that he was very happy and “this is a huge privilege” and that Chelsea’s winning culture must be maintained, while a team with a family feeling and hard-working, capable of competing at the highest level should be built.
Chelsea are on the road at Fulham on Wednesday, where Under-21 coach Calum McFarlane is expected to stay in charge for that game only.
Rosenior’s first official match will be the FA Cup round three at home against Charlton Athletic on January 10, and after that, he will get what is probably his toughest challenge in the league with Arsenal, Brentford, and Pafos coming up.
