English premiership side Chelsea have sacked coach Graham Potter.He was sacked after the club lost 2-0 to Aston Villa in a season shadowed by massive defeats.
Chelsea’s season has descended into chaos after they fired Graham Potter and began looking for their third manager since being bought by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital last summer.
Julian Nagelsmann is prominent in Chelsea’s thoughts after the ruthless dismissal of Potter, who was informed of his fate at 2.45pm on Sunday, but the former Bayern Munich manager is believed to be reluctant to take the job until the summer. A full-time appointment is not imminent. Chelsea have installed Bruno Saltor, who was part of Potter’s backroom staff, as interim head coach and want to think carefully before making their next move.
Chelsea have drawn up a shortlist of candidates, including Mauricio Pochettino, and would like someone in place before pre-season. Nagelsmann is the early favourite but Luis Enrique could come under consideration. Chelsea have been linked with the Eintracht Frankfurt manager, Oliver Glasner, while Rúben Amorim is building a strong reputation at Sporting Lisbon.
However, eyebrows will be raised at the new regime’s behaviour. Much has been made of Boehly and Clearlake, which is owned by Behdad Eghbali and Jose Feliciano, trying to move away from Roman Abramovich’s sacking culture.
Yet Chelsea, who are 11th in the Premier League despite spending close to £600m on signings since last summer, have fired two managers in seven months. Potter was hired after the departure of Thomas Tuchel in September. Chelsea paid £21.5m in compensation to Brighton & Hove Albion to bring the 47-year-old and his coaching staff to Stamford Bridge.
Boehly and Eghbali said: “On behalf of everyone at the club, we want to thank Graham sincerely for his contribution to Chelsea. We have the highest degree of respect for Graham as a coach and as a person. He has always conducted himself with professionalism and integrity and we are all disappointed in this outcome.
“Along with our incredible fans, we will all be getting behind Bruno and the team as we focus on the rest of the season. We have 10 Premier League games remaining and a Champions League quarter-final ahead. We will put every effort and commitment into every one of those games so that we can end the season on a high.”
