Brighton and Hove boss Graham Potter is about to become the new head coach at Chelsea. Potter, who has been with the Seagulls since 2019, reportedly spoke with Chelsea owner Todd Boehly for an extended period of time on Wednesday. According to reports, the 47-year-old coach then verbally agreed to become the Blues next boss.
Chelsea fired former head coach Thomas Tuchel following a lethargic display against Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday. The surprising loss in Croatia was, however, just the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Boehly and Tuchel reportedly failed to see eye to eye on many things, including summer transfer plans. The German coach supposedly wanted to pursue defender Matthijs de Ligt, while superstar Cristiano Ronaldo was fully on the new American owner’s radar. Neither transfers materialized for the west London club.
Potter is set to win the Chelsea job over other candidates such as Mauricio Pochettino, Zinedine Zidane, and Sporting coach Ruben Amorim. Pochettino was reportedly very interested in the Chelsea job. Zidane, on the other hand, is holding out for a different position. Sky Sports also reported that Amorim also recently spoke with Boehly about the job opening. Nevertheless, it appears that Potter is the man to succeed Tuchel at Chelsea.
The Blues will have to pay Brighton a compensation package of about $24 million to pry Potter from the south coast. Chelsea will then have to also pay their new head coach a salary as well.
While Potter has just a 31% win percentage with Brighton, the coach took over in 2019 to essentially just keep the club in the Premier League. The Englishman not only accomplished this, but he took Brighton up to ninth in the table last season. The Seagulls are currently fourth in the current campaign after winning four of their opening six matches.
If all goes to plan, Potter could be on the touchline for Chelsea’s game against Fulham on Saturday. Brighton, meanwhile, travel to face Bournemouth.
Photo credit: IMAGO / PA Images
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