Graham Potter arrived at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground on Thursday to sign a contract to take over as manager. He had earlier verbally agreed to succeed Thomas Tuchel, who was sacked on Wednesday.
Chelsea made Potter their No 1 target and swiftly received permission from Brighton to speak to him. A substantial compensation payment – understood to be about £16m – is being paid and Potter is poised to take charge of Chelsea for the first time in Saturday’s game at Fulham.
Graham Potter, arrived @ Cobham in order to sign the contract as new Chelsea manager. 🚨🔵✅ #CFC@footballdaily ⤵️🎥 pic.twitter.com/AmcxNCcmCN
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 8, 2022
The 47-year-old started Thursday at Brighton’s training ground but after further talks he made the journey to Cobham early in the afternoon.
Potter has previously also managed Östersund and Swansea. He lifted the Swedish club into the top flight and led them into the Europa League, and achieved his and Brighton’s highest top-flight finish last season: ninth.
Among the managers under consideration by Brighton is Kjetil Knutsen, who is in charge of Bodø/Glimt. He has guided the club to their first Norwegian titles and is in the Europa League group stage for a second successive season.
In February Brighton lost their technical director, Dan Ashworth, who joined Newcastle after a period of gardening leave.
