Chelsea confirm shock manager decision and Man City repeat in double announcement

Chelsea have confirmed that Filipe Coelho has left his position as head coach of the Under-21s/Development Squad to join RC Strasbourg. Coelho will be the new assistant to Liam Rosenior at the fellow BlueCo-owned side.

Having moved from the Under-23s team at Estoril last summer, with his previous time being spent in the talent factory of Benfica's youth system, Coelho departs after just 12 months in England. He will remain under the watchful eye of Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly at Strasbourg.

There, he will be working with Rosenior, who signed a new long-term contract in April. The former Derby County coach and Hull City manager has impressed in France with a youthful squad, leading Strasbourg to a seventh-place finish and fighting for a Champions League spot right until the end.

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They will play in the Conference League next season and Coelho will get the chance to test himself in senior football. He leaves having helped a young but promising Chelsea development side to third place in Premier League 2 (PL2).

Chelsea were knocked out in the quarter-finals of the play-off following that, and numerous players from Coelho's cohort were granted first-team debuts. Shumaira Mheuka, Kiano Dyer, Harrison Murray-Campbell, Genesis Antwi, and Ato Ampah all had brief chances in Europe.

Coelho's move is the latest in a series of continuing changes at Cobham that has followed with the arrival of Clearlake Capital and Boehly. Calum McFarlane, who has recently come in from Southampton, where he was also the Under-21s coach, will take Coelho's place, it has been confirmed.

He will be joined by former Cobham players Andy Ross and James Simmonds. Ross has gone up from the Under-18s, who are managed by Hassan Sulaiman. The vacancy left there as assistant has been filled by Harry Hudson, previously at Wycombe. He was with a young group that played against Sholing, where Levi Colwill has strong connections, over the weekend.

McFarlane has worked alongside key director Joe Shields at Southampton. He was also involved with Enzo Maresca and Shields at Manchester City, following a familiar path in recent years.

Speaking of Coelho's move, academy technical director Glenn van der Kraan said: "Despite his time with us lasting just over a year, Filipe has made an important impact on our programme, influencing our football identity, enforcing the highest of standards and performing at the highest level every single day.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for Filipe to continue his coaching journey and we look forward to seeing where that takes him in the future." Van der Kraan himself has been part of the shift at Chelsea. He took over from the the surprise and controversial departures of established figures Jim Fraser and Neil Bath.

Jack Francis, a former academy graduate as well, has stepped up into the academy football operations director role and added: "The Chelsea Academy environment is built on the foundations of development and we pride ourselves on producing not just players of the future, but also staff.

"This culture of excellence is essential in driving our performance year after year and we are delighted that Filipe now continues that trend. He has been a pleasure to work with for the past year and we wish him all the success in this exciting next chapter."