Next Chelsea manager: Who will replace Graham Potter at Stamford Bridge?
After the club announced Potter’s departure, there is one clear frontrunner to take his place in the Chelsea hot seat.
Chelsea have parted company with Graham Potter after just six months, bringing to a close his ill-fated managerial spell at Stamford Bridge.
Potter secured passage to the quarter-finals of the Champions League but has consistently struggled in the Premier League. The Blues slipped to 11th in the league after Saturday’s home defeat to Aston Villa and the Chelsea board acted to remove him as head coach.
“We have the highest degree of respect for Graham as a coach and as a person,” read a statement from co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali. “He has always conducted himself with professionalism and integrity and we are all disappointed in this outcome.”
Here are the favourites to replace Potter as Chelsea manager…
Julien Nagelsmann
The German was relieved from his duties at Bayern Munich over the international break so would, in theory, be available to take over immediately. He steered Bayern to a Bundesliga title in his first season at the club and have overseen a faultless Champions League campaign this year.
However the club had slipped behind Borussia Dortmund in the league table at the time of his sacking and the club hierarchy were said to be concerned about defensive frailties. Nagelsmann’s penchant for striker-less systems could fit in well at Chelsea, who have a surplus of attacking midfielders and wide forwards but no elite striker.
Nagelsmann is the early frontrunner to be be named Chelsea’s next permanent head coach.
Luis Enrique
The former Spain boss brings an attacking style of play that would suit Chelsea’s star-studded squad and he has plenty of top level experience. He led Barcelona to a treble in 2015 and might be better placed to deal with the egos in the Chelsea dressing room than Potter was.
But while he is a proven winner, he can be an abrasive presence and tends to fall out with members of the club hierarchy. Perhaps Boehly, who seems intent on remaining an active presence on the sporting side, may decide against introducing the combative Enrique into the equation.
Mauricio Pochettino
Another out-of-work manager, Pochettino left Paris Saint-Germain at the end of last season and has been without a role since. He could be the ‘project-builder’ that Boehly is thought to want and is proven in the Premier League, unlike Nagelsmann and Enrique.
However the big stumbling block could be Pochettino’s beloved status at Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea’s London rivals. Pochettino waited for more than a year before taking the PSG job and he may well decide to wait until the close season to decide on his next job.
Bruno Saltor
A very unlikely candidate beyond the short-term, nevertheless Bruno Saltor is the man in the hot seat as it stands. In announcing Potter’s departure the club also confirmed that Saltor, Potter’s former assistant, would be taking charge of the team.
Officially he is the interim head coach, meaning that he is very unlikely to remain in the job beyond this season but a sharp upturn in performances could convince the club that he is the man to take them forward.
For more information on him, check out Who is Bruno Saltor?