Graham Potter agrees to be Chelsea’s new head coach after Thomas Tuchel’s sacking. football news

Chelsea have reached a verbal deal with Brighton manager Graham Potter to replace Thomas Tuchel as their next head coach.

Tuchel was sacked on Wednesday after Chelsea’s 1-0 loss to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League and just six games into the new Premier League season.

Chelsea boss Todd Boehley met Potter in central London on Wednesday afternoon in what he described as “positive talks” about the Brighton manager’s future role at Stamford Bridge and the club’s plans to develop the entire football operation was.

Those discussions continued Thursday morning, with a focus on the legal details of his contract and Potter’s backroom staff.

No contract has yet been signed, although the two sides have reached a verbal agreement about the 47-year-old’s takeover at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea made it clear they were ready to meet Brighton’s exit clause figure for Potter.

Mauricio Pochettino and Zinedine Zidane, who are both out of work, as well as Sporting in Lisbon manager Ruben Amorim were also on Chelsea’s radar.

Potter would become the first managerial appointment of the Bohli era since his summer takeover. The American is still serving as sporting director after Roman Abramovich’s trusted staff replaced director Marina Granovskia, chairman Bruce Buck and technical and performance consultant Petr Sech.

Carragher: I’m afraid for the potter

Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher:

“It’s a very brutal club and I’m not sure [Graham Potter] Is the right fit – maybe Chelsea are saying they want to do things differently in the future because they have a coach in charge instead of a manager or they do things differently behind the scenes. But if I were Graham Potter, I would find it very hard to believe that they were going to do things differently. He’s just got one manager out six games into the season.

“It’s a big step forward in his managerial career and Chelsea are still one of the top clubs. They’re still world champions, but you fear for Graham Potter that he’ll be in the same boat as every other Chelsea manager.” in the last 10 years – unless he gets instant results, he’ll find himself another new manager in 12 months.”

Inside Tuchel’s final day at Chelsea

Tuchel cleared his desk after a short meeting at 9.30 a.m. on Wednesday, where he was sacked and stayed at the training ground to say goodbye to his departing coaching staff.

The German manager, who joined the club in January 2021, wants to take a break before returning to football.

Tuchel is still highly respected by many at Chelsea because of the trophies and the leadership he showed during extremely difficult conditions. At Chelsea, the coronavirus pandemic and the end of the Roman Abramovich era were difficult scenarios – the latter resulting in club restrictions, staff not being paid and fears of the club going out of business.

Tuchel also showed leadership during the Takeover saga, while several prominent figures such as Bruce Buck, Marina Granovskia, Petr Sech announced their departure.

Clubs such as Manchester United and Barcelona were interested in Tuchel last season but he has always been loyal to Chelsea.

Although Chelsea spent a record £278m this summer, there were differences between the co-owners and Tuchel over some goals and tactics.

For example, the owners were open to the idea of ​​signing Cristiano Ronaldo from United but he was not wanted by Tuchel.

Meanwhile, Chelsea co-owners Bohli and Behdad Eghbali met with Chelsea players and staff in Cobham on Wednesday afternoon.

He explained what had happened to Tuchel and his vision for the club’s future. Boehly and Eghbali were also in the game in Zagreb on Tuesday.

Chelsea’s upcoming fixtures

September 10: fulham (a) – Kick-off at 12.30 pm

14 September: red bull salzburg (h) – kick-off at 8 o’clock

18 September: liverpool (H) – Kick-off at 4.30

October 1: diamond palace (a) – kick-off at 3 o’clock

October 5: AC Milan (h) – kick-off at 8 o’clock