Premier League and Champions League clubs chased defender who could make league debut for Chelsea | OneFootball

Mamadou Sarr is in line for his first league start for Chelsea on Sunday, and Liam Rosenior could once again play a major role in the defender’s development.

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Chelsea are preparing to take on Arsenal this weekend in a huge game which could swing either team’s season definitively in one direction or another.

It could also be the biggest club game in the career of young Mamadou Sarr. The suspension to Wesley Fofana has opened up a gap in the middle of Chelsea’s defence, and Sarr is primed to step into it.

Under Enzo Maresca, we’d all be thinking that Tosin was the man to take the empty spot. But Liam Rosenior’s appointment has changed the game. Rosenior was Sarr’s coach at Strasbourg, and has played a major role in his break out. He even calls the defender his “son.”

Things could have been very different – according to Nizaar Kinsella’s piece for the BBC, “had Rosenior not replaced Enzo Maresca in January, Sarr had expected to remain at [Strasbourg] until the summer.”

Sarr almost made Premier League move 6 months ago

Mamadou Sarr in action against Paris Saint Germain. (Photo by Catherine Steenkeste/Getty Images for Qatar Airways)

Of course, without Rosenior, he wouldn’t have been there in the first place. Chelsea bought him from their sister club in the summer, and he almost came direct to England to start his adaptation:

“Those close to the young defender say he explored loan moves to Premier League and Champions League clubs in the summer following the Club World Cup,” Kinsella writes.

“Only for Rosenior to persuade him to return to France as Strasbourg vice‑captain while competing in the Uefa Conference League.

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