Tag Futebol

French newspaper L’Equipe have shared an update on Liam Rosenior’s position at Strasbourg as rumours continue to link him with a move to Chelsea.

Rosenior frontrunner after Maresca exit

After guiding Leicester City to the Championship title in 2024, Enzo Maresca was appointed as the new Chelsea manager. In his first season, not only did the Italian guide the Blues to Champions League qualification, but won both the Conference League and Club World Cup.

For the credit he had acquired, Maresca had earned time to turn Chelsea around from their recent blip in form. Following tensions with the board, however, the Stamford Bridge side announced on New Year’s Day that the Italian had departed his post.

Chelsea’s owners, BlueCo, have widely been associated with chaos since their arrival in London, be it due to mass influxes of signings or the number of managers they hired in their early tenure. Maresca appeared to have, at least on the pitch, finally brought a sense of calm back to the Blues, with an established first-team and playing philosophy.

In the wake of Maresca’s departure, Strasbourg manager Liam Rosenior is seemingly the front-runner to replace him.

The Englishman joined Strasbourg, also owned by BlueCo, in 2024, guiding them to a seventh-placed Ligue 1 finish in his first season. Across the current campaign, Rosenior managed Strasbourg to the top of the Conference League table by the league phase’s conclusion.

Will Chelsea bring Rosenior to the Premier League?

Strasbourg are doing well both domestically and on the continent under Rosenior’s guidance. A mid-season departure, then, could well disrupt the club’s momentum.

However, a source close to Behdad Eghbali, part-owner of Chelsea, has reportedly told L’Equipe, as per Sport Witness, that he and BlueCo as a whole “don’t care at all” about how Strasbourg’s season may be impacted were Rosenior to leave for London.

Rosenior, alongside already being a part of the BlueCo multi-ownership model, is viewed as “almost an ideal fit” for the Chelsea job and as a manager who may prove more agreeing with the board than Maresca.

Subscribe to our newsletter for Chelsea managerial insight For deeper context, subscribe to the newsletter for focused coverage and analysis of Rosenior, BlueCo and Chelsea managerial developments — clarifying ownership decisions, managerial fits and their likely impact on the club.

---

Subscribe By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

More than once in the final months of his tenure, the Italian commented on matters away from the pitch and how they were impacting him.

Of course, Rosenior would find himself under pressure at Chelsea, which would be as immediate as it would be intense. Given his reputation as a promising coach and his pre-existing links to BlueCo, it is understandable as to why he has emerged as the front-runner for the job.

Such news, however, will only come as a stinging blow to Strasbourg and the club’s fans, some of whom have previously voiced concerns about seeing their team reduced to a feeder status.

Related Dream Rosenior alternative: Chelsea considering the "best coach in the PL"

This manager could be Chelsea’s perfect Maresca replacement

Posts ByJoe Nuttall

	Brett Lee enjoys Twenty20 but he says his heart remains with the baggy green © Getty Images

Brett Lee is not surprised that Twenty20 looks set to expand beyond the existing tournaments and he has repeated calls for the ICC to do what it can to accommodate the format in its existing calendar. Lee is in Mohali preparing for his first match in the Indian Premier League (IPL), for the Kings XI Punjab against Chennai on Saturday.However, this year’s IPL could be just the beginning of the Twenty20 explosion with suggestions of two IPL tournaments to be held next year, while Allen Stanford is planning a US$20 million match. England are also considering developing their own domestic version of the IPL.”Twenty20 is now a proven form of the game and, as we have seen all over the world in the last few years, it is something the fans love,” Lee told the Sydney Morning Herald. “It’s not too hard to see other people wanting to get on board and competitions popping up around the place, especially if the IPL is successful.”But the last thing you want to see is players leaving their countries to sign up with Twenty20 competitions. My heart is always with the baggy green cap and that is where my loyalty will always lie, but I can’t see why there can’t be room for both types of cricket. I think the people who run the game need to allow a window of opportunity for players to play in the IPL to avoid problems in the future.”Lee believes the first IPL will be a success and he is confident that after the recent fractious Test series, tensions between Australia and India players have eased. His team-mates at Mohali include Irfan Pathan, Yuvraj Singh and Sreesanth, and Lee hopes playing together will help men from the two nations better understand each other.”Everyone knows there was an incident or two in Australia last summer, but that is water under the bridge,” he said. “It’s a competitive game and players can occasionally cross the line, and that can get blown out of proportion sometimes with the way the media portrays it.”From my experiences in India, I genuinely think people love the Australian team, despite everything that’s been said. I also think that with players from different countries now sharing the same dressing room, it is a great opportunity for all of us to learn more about each other, about our cricket and cultures, and improve the whole mood of the game.”

Super 4s cricket kicks off in England this weekend and Rosalie Birch has been named as the new Sapphires captain following Laura Newton’s retirement.The Twenty20 Challenge will be held on Monday 28 May, with Sapphires taking on the Emeralds, captained by Alexia Walker. Nicki Shaw’s Diamonds, last year’s winners, will take on the Rubies, who are led by Gill Richards.Shaw is taking over temporary charge of the Diamonds while Charlotte Edwards recovers from knee surgery. Edwards’s knee flared up after the quadrangular series in India, but she hopes to be back playing by mid-July ahead of the New Zealand series in mid-August.The winners from these two games will then face each other in the Final, while the remaining two teams will have a third place play-off. The first round of matches starts at 11.30am, followed by the third place play-off and the Final at 3pm. All games will be played at Loughborough University.The league competition begins on the weekend of June 2-3, with further matches taking place on June 16 and 23 and over the weekend of July 7-8.Ebony Rainford-Brent, representing the Diamonds had this to say about the Super 4s; “It’s a great platform for players to showcase their talent. It is also an excellent way of preparing for international level, by facing the best in the country on a regular basis and to push yourself either individually or as a team. For me this is my first Super 4s season and I look forward to having the opportunity of playing a key role and producing some good performances.”

Mahela Jayawardene believes the support staff in the tour party will help the squad understand the English conditions better © Getty Images

Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka’s captain, expressed the fullest confidence that his team could overcome English conditions and England if they perform to their capabilities.”There are no fears out there. There’s nothing we can’t handle. It’s just how we prepare ourselves mentally and physically and what we want to do,” he said on the eve of Sri Lanka’s 80-day tour.”We have six or seven young guys going to England on a big tour and they will learn a lot. That will be an investment itself for the future.”Sizing up England, Jayawardene was well aware that it would be tough against a well balanced squad and clearly outlined his team’s immediate tasks in tackling the opposition.He said: “We shouldn’t worry about what they will do to us. What we should worry about is how we are going to handle them and control that. We know the players and should work on their strengths and weaknesses.”Jayawardene added the biggest limitation his team had was trying to worry about things ahead of time. “For instance, in England you will start talking about the ball moving and all that jazz. We shouldn’t worry about that. We haven’t even gone to England yet. In England you have some of the best batting wickets, which I have batted on, Lord’s for instance and Nottingham where the third test is scheduled to be played.”It’s all about how you go there and adjust and how you apply yourself. It is as simple as that. I think we did that very well in Australia and proved that we can handle pace, bounce and movement. It’s all in us, how you believe in your capabilities. It’s all up here.”Reflecting on his first tour to England in 1998, Jayawardene said, “My first tour of England taught me a lot. I had the opportunity to play in every game and learnt a lot in English conditions. Even though you are set when you are on 60 you can still get a good ball and get out. The first couple of matches were tough for me but luckily I had a lot of experienced guys to advice me. I learnt quickly and it helped me a lot especially to adjust myself for the next tour, which was in 2002.”Jayawardene said the English experience of Tom Moody, Sri Lanka’s Australian-born coach who played and coached Worcestershire for 15 years, and Trevor Penney, the Zimbabwean-born assistant coach who played 14 seasons for Warwickshire, would prove invaluable to his team. Both coaches went ahead of the team and are in England at the moment.He also revealed that Sri Lanka had not been practising ahead of the start of the tour. “There was no point, because the conditions are going to be totally different in England. So we used the time to give the players some rest. We have only undergone physical training to freshen ourselves after a hectic season.”Squad – Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Kumar Sangakkara (vice-capt), Upul Tharanga, Michael Vandort, Jehan Mubarak, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Kapugedera, Prasanna Jayawardene, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekera, Muttiah Muralitharan, Malinga Bandara.

MCC has announced that its next president will be Robin Marlar. He will take up the year-long position in October and will succeedTom Graveney.Marlar, 74, first played for Sussex in 1951, and captained them from 1955 to 1959. He played little after that, although he did appear occasionally until 1968. In 1955 he took 139 wickets with his offspin, including a career-best 9 for 46 against Lancashire. He took 970 first-class wickets at an average of 25, and grabbed ten wickets in a match on ten occasions. Later a trenchant cricket writer and a member of MCC’s influential cricket committee, Marlar is also a former chairman of Sussex.

Wasim Akram: everybody wants to learn from him © AFP

The Pakistan Cricket Board has announced that it will invite Wasim Akram, Imran Khan and Aaqib Javed to coach Pakistan’s fast bowlers before India’s tour in March.Speaking to the Press Trust of India, a news agency, Rameez Raja, the PCB’s chief executive, said: “The PCB has decided to seek the expertise of former fast-bowling greats, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Aaqib Javed to hold special build-up sessions with the present pacers to prepare them for the series against India.”Raja played down the furore in Pakistan about Irfan Pathan’s coaching by Akram during India’s tour of Australia. “I don’t think it is such a big issue,” he said. “Wasim is a retired cricketer and highly respected as a quality fast bowler. It is natural that other bowlers like to take advice and tips from him. We just want him to be available for us when possible.” Raja added that the board would approach Akram on his return from Australia, asking him and Imran to assist Mohammad Sami, who struggled in New Zealand.”We want Imran and Wasim to work with him [Sami] and see where he is going wrong,” Raja said. Sami took six wickets at an average of 45 in the recent one-day series in New Zealand, but otherwise has 71 wickets in 45 internationals, at an average of 24.77.

The Warwickshire all-rounder, Graham Wagg, has been ruled out of theremainder of this winter’s ECB National Academy programme through injury.Wagg, 19, was named in the original ECB Academy squad back in September, butwas unable to take up his place due to a back injury.He has recently undergone a scan which has revealed signs of a stressresponse in his back but no fracture. Following discussions with the ECBChief Medical Officer, Dr Peter Gregory, it has been decided that Wagg willcontinue his rehabilitation in the UK and not fly to Australia with the restof the Academy Squad tonight (Friday).Wagg’s Warwickshire colleagues, Jim Troughton (shin splints) and Ian Bell(back injury) have both been passed fit and will join up with the NationalAcademy in Adelaide ahead of their forthcoming tour of Sri Lanka. Nodecision has yet been taken on a replacement for Wagg in the Academy Squad.

ECB Division One – Time games

Andover 169
Bashley (Rydal) 170-3
Bashley (Rydal) won by 7 wicketsBournemouth 142
B.A.T.Sports 143-4
B.A.T.Sports won by 6 wicketsHavant 272-3
Calmore Sports 195-7
Match drawnBurridge 218-6
Hungerford 220-4
Hungerford won by 6 wicketsSouth Wilts 282-7
Liphook and Ripsley 240-5
Match drawn

Division Two – Overs games

Cove 238-4
Trojans 133
Cove won by 105 runsEaston & Martyr Worthy 176-8
Hambledon 159-7 (reduced target)
Hambledon won by 3 wicketsO.T. and Romsey 224-9
Lymington 226-4
Lymington won by 6 wicketsU.S.Portsmouth 313
Old Basing 165
United Services won by 148 runsPortsmouth 302-5
Sparsholt 202-8
Portsmouth won by 100 runs

Division Three – Overs games

Lymington II 196-7
Alton 177-4
Lymington II won by 19 runsHursley Park 164
Bashley (Rydal) II 132-7
Hursley Park won by 32 runsGosport Borough 217-2
Havant II 218-3
Havant II won by 7 wicketsHook and Newnham Basics 219
Winchester K.S. 220-3
Winchester K.S. won by 7 wicketsNew Milton 248-8
Leckford 89
New Milton won by 159 runsPortsmouth II 239-7
Paultons 88
Portsmouth II won by 151 runsPurbrook 221-8
Flamingo 150-8
Purbrook won by 71 runsRowledge 253-6
United Services II 206-9
Rowledge won by 47 runsWaterlooville 197
St.Cross Symondians 199-6
St.Cross Symondians won by 4 wickets

Everton have had a shocking season, with numerous injury problems and poor performances contributing to their current relegation challenge. If they can remain in the Premier League next season, there seems little doubt that Frank Lampard will be making changes over the summer, but there is one player’s future which could be out of his hands already.

What’s the word?

Journalist Dean Jones has made a big claim on the future of Toffees deadline day signing Dele Alli, with his future at the club uncertain and potentially cut short.

The transfer insider told GiveMeSport: “If he’s not in the team by the end of the season, it’s pretty likely he’s gone.”

Lampard will be fuming

Lampard only joined the club on transfer deadline day in January but wasted no time bringing in Alli on the very same day to offer him the opportunity to revive his career away from Tottenham. However, due to the nature of Everton’s situation in the Premier League, the 43-year-old does not have the time at this point of the season to find the attacking midfielder’s best position in the team.

With only ten league games left for the Toffees, Lampard is obviously looking to his most experienced and reliable attacking players to secure safety for the club to remain in the Premier League this season. With Alli struggling for consistency in his game, as seen at Spurs over the last few seasons, the former Chelsea boss clearly doesn’t trust him yet.

Lampard will surely be fuming at the speculation surrounding the 25-year-old, and after giving Alli a chance to join him at Goodison Park, he would no doubt be disappointed if the player decided to leave due to a lack of game-time in a vulnerable period for the Toffees, as there could be an opportunity to take a much more consistent role in the team next season if they aren’t relegated this year.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

---

Subscribe

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

Even this season, there could still be moments when Lampard feels that he can lean on the ex-Spurs playmaker, but it could really pay off for Alli if he maintains patience and works with his manager to secure a role in the team in the future. Alas, this could ultimately depend on the league status of the club next season – if they were to drop into the Championship, they will likely have a tough time trying to keep many of their marquee players, including Alli.

In other news: Everton handed fresh lift as update emerges, Lampard will be buzzing

	Mohammad Yousuf could soon be part of an IPL franchise © AFP

A decision on whether or not Mohammad Yousuf will be allowed to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) is expected to be made on March 29, following a final hearing of the Mumbai-based arbitration court looking into the dispute.Yousuf had initially signed up for the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League (ICL) last year, seemingly in protest after he was dropped from the Pakistan squad for the Twenty20 World Championships. The Pakistan board, however, eventually convinced him to change his mind and renege on his contract, luring him back with the promise of an IPL contract.The ICL, understandably, took the matter to an arbitration court, claiming that Yousuf had already signed up and his contract prevented him from playing in any rival league. The matter has been stuck in a legal limbo since then, a few hearings this year so far not resolving anything.Yousuf was the only player whose services remained unsold at the recent IPL auctions, franchises undoubtedly hesitant over his legal status. Yousuf himself is said to be annoyed that the Pakistan board hasn’t resolved the matter yet, but officials maintain that full support is being provided.”The PCB is fully defending Yousuf’s decision to play in the IPL,” Nasim Ashraf, chairman PCB, told Cricinfo. “We have lawyers in India handling the matter and a legal representative from the board has also been there at the hearings. The last hearing went on for considerably longer than expected but a final decision is now expected on March 29.”Ashraf also revealed that though Yousuf had not been ‘bought’ by any franchise, the IPL had guaranteed to match the package that the ICL had offered to him initially.