Chelsea new manager LIVE: Graham Potter appointed as new head coach
Todd Boehly and the new owners at Stamford Bridge are set to appoint their own head coach as the Blues’ upheaval continues
Graham Potter has been announced as the new head coach of Chelsea, following the sacking of Thomas Tuchel on Wednesday.
New owner Todd Boehly acted swiftly to dismiss the German following a Champions League defeat to Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday night, with the aim being to quickly put a new man in place before the weekend Premier League encounter with Fulham. Potter has now been confirmed as that man with a five-year contract having been signed, the Stamford Bridge club confirmed. The compensation paid to Brighton is expected to be around £16m, with three staff members also moving with Potter.
Chelsea’s move was all the more surprising at this stage of the season given Tuchel played a prominent role in choosing transfer targets this summer, with the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang signed only a week ago and other big-money arrivals including Kalidou Koulibaly, Wesley Fofana and Raheem Sterling. Find the latest updates and reaction to Chelsea’s new manager below:
ESPN and BT football journalist Julien Laurens says the deal is done and Potter will make the move.
But as he points out, that’s only the start of it: how will the new boss get this group of players on board, bigger names than he is used to who have claimed countless trophies and commanded massive transfer fees?
It’ll be very different to what Potter is used to.
Which other managers are potential Tuchel replacements?
It’s certainly Graham Potter’s to lose right now, you feel, with the Brighton boss seemingly having a free run at the hotseat at Stamford Bridge.
But that doesn’t guarantee he’ll take it - he has rejected the chance to move beforehand and is doubtless switched-on enough to seek some assurances about his role, who he’ll work with and future recruitment.
So who else are the possibilities to take over if Potter doesn’t trade the south coast for west London?
Next Chelsea manager: Candidates to replace Thomas Tuchel
Thomas Tuchel’s exit a self-inflicted wound after Chelsea’s scattergun spending
Jurgen Klopp has seen off five Chelsea managers, plus the odd caretaker, during his time at Liverpool, but it was only four when he surveyed Thomas Tuchel’s inheritance. “This Chelsea squad is a present and I am pretty sure Thomas sees it like that,” he said in January 2021.
A few weeks later, Chelsea won at Anfield; three months after that, they won the Champions League. Klopp might have excelled as the analyst but Tuchel proved himself the alchemist, taking a group who were ninth when Frank Lampard was sacked to continental glory.
Now it is Tuchel who has been sacked. He achieved at great speed but his reign unravelled similarly quickly. His successor may deem the squad he has bequeathed a gift; for Tuchel, it looked an expensive mess. Tuchel flourished with other managers’ players and failed with his own, albeit in a small sample size. Chelsea spent around £260million this summer to get worse; arguably, to descend into crisis inside seven games.
Wesley Fofana played two matches for Tuchel, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang one in their reunion, Denis Zakaria and Carney Chukwuemeka none after arriving. Raheem Sterling at least got seven, thought he spent some of the last in central midfield. Perhaps, in time, Tuchel’s recruits would have found roles and his buying would have produced a team that was definitively his own, but it looked like scattergun spending that brought self-inflicted wounds. Tuchel ended up fatally hurt.
Rich Jolly looks at how and why it all came to a crashing end for Tuchel:
Thomas Tuchel’s exit a self-inflicted wound after Chelsea’s scattergun spending
Chelsea and Graham Potter in talks over manager’s job
Chelsea are in talks with Graham Potter over the Brighton and Hove Albion head coach replacing Thomas Tuchel, who was sacked on Wednesday.
The 47-year-old is naturally open to the discussion, and has a release clause in his contract. That clause also comes down with every year of his contract, but does contain a few variables, and isn’t as simple as a straight fee.
It is why, if a deal is struck, the likely fee would be £16m.
Brighton have granted Potter permission to speak to Chelsea as that is how they do business, and do not seek to stand in the way of conversations taking place.
Miguel Delaney’s update on the search:
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