Wayne Rooney has encouraged Chelsea to bring Premier League icon Claude Makelele back to Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea are searching for a new manager after Liam Rosenior was sacked following a brief and dismal spell in charge.
The Blues turned to Rosenior after Enzo Maresca’s departure in January but the ex-Strasbourg boss only lasted 106 days before being axed.
Under Rosenior, Chelsea won just 11 games out of 23 and suffered five successive Premier League defeats without scoring a goal, the club’s worst run since 1912.
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Chelsea’s poor run has seen them slip to ninth in the Premier League, ten points outside the Champions League places, although they will contest today’s FA Cup final against Manchester City.
Chelsea remain worryingly chaotic on and off the pitch, however, and Rooney believes the team would benefit from the return of club legend Makelele.
Makelele established himself as one of the best defensive midfielders in history during his time in west London, helping Chelsea win two Premier League titles either side of spells at Real Madrid and PSG.
The French World Cup runner-up returned to Chelsea as a youth coach and technical mentor but left that role in 2023 by mutual consent.
‘I played a charity game last year and Claude Makelele was there,’ Rooney said on his BBC podcast. ‘I absolutely loved it.
‘It was the first time I’ve been in his company and we sat down after the game and had a glass of wine, I absolutely loved him.
‘I was thinking at the time, someone with his mentality and mindset, having him around the place would be great for Chelsea.’
Speaking about Chelsea’s issues following their FA Cup semi-final win over Leeds last month, Rooney added: ‘I was watching the game and I don’t think the Chelsea players seemed sad [about Rosenior’s sacking], they almost seemed relieved.
‘As a player you need to look at yourself. Some of them downed tools, 100%. It was interesting as well to see some players back fit.
‘If you go back to Chelsea when they under Lampard, Terry, Cech, Makelele, it actually didn’t matter that much if the manager was sacked because you’ve got a group of leaders who will lead on the pitch and lead by example.
‘Groups of players like that run the football club, we had that at Manchester United, so the manager doesn’t need to do much. That’s where it’s changed massively.’
Rooney praised Chelsea’s appointment of Rosenior, who was one of his assistants during his time in charge of Derby County.
Asked whether Rosenior will be ‘regretting’ his decision to take the Chelsea job, Rooney said: ‘I don’t know, I don’t know.
‘Liam’s a confident person and I’ve said many times, I think he’s a fantastic coach.
‘He’s never been at a club of the pressure of Chelsea and he got put under a huge amount of pressure straightaway from the media and then the players.
‘The players and the media quite quickly judged him and then he wasn’t getting results so we all knew what was coming.’
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