Liam Rosenior side-stepped questions about his links to Chelsea in his recent Strasbourg press conference. - but has admitted there have been "exchanges" with BlueCo bosses.
The 41-year-old was facing the media for the first time since he was identified as the bookies favourite to take up the helm at Stamford Bridge. When the sacking of Enzo Maresca was announced, Rosenior was immediately mentioned as a potential successor.
Strasbourg are a sister club to Chelsea as a result of being owned by the BlueCo consortium, which would make the process of on-boarding Rosenior easier. While this is the picture from an infrastructure point of view, he chose to remain tight-lipped about the rumours.
Rosenior said, in quotes relayed by the lalsace.fr website: "I'm going to talk about Nice because that's my job," when asked about the link connecting him with the Chelsea vacancy.
When pushed again by French reporters, he added: "There's a lot of noise, a lot of speculation, but as a coach, if you get involved, you fail. My job is here, I love this club."
Moreover, another question put to him was whether he had spoken to the Strasbourg players about the possibility of him leaving the Ligue 1 side. Rosenior replied: "No, I haven't spoken to the players about it.
"There's no need, they're connected and I've had a few light-hearted jokes. But we've been focused on our work. The goal is to continue creating great things here."
However, when pushed even further, he did appear to leave the door ajar for an exit from Strasbourg. He added: "In life, there are zero guarantees. You never know what tomorrow will bring.
"I'm just doing my job. There's already been speculation. I don't want to guarantee how long I'll be here, but I enjoy myself here every day. I intend to continue doing so as long as I'm here. I love this club, but I can't guarantee anything. Nobody can.
"I want to do my job here, it's simple. The reality today is that I am the manager of Strasbourg and I am focused on my position."
He also admitted there has been contact with the Blues' board, stating: "There are exchanges because we are part of the same group." When asked why he has not ruled out a move to Chelsea, he replied: "I'm honest, you can never control everything in life. I could say I'm going to stay here for years and then get fired."
Interestingly, he also entertained questions about potential Strasbourg transfer targets. In what was the first question concerning the club solely, and not whether he was going to move to Chelsea, he replied: "We know what we want.
"There won’t be a huge number of moves, but we’ve targeted a few positions to boost the team. I’m very happy with the group I have."
