Chelsea on Wednesday sacked head coach Thomas Tuchel six matches into the Premier League season.
The club have been given permission by Brighton to speak to Graham Potter, who is expected to meet Todd Boehly this afternoon.
It is thought Chelsea have made it clear they are prepared to meet Brighton’s exit clause figure. The club are also keen to speak to Mauricio Pochettino and Zinedine Zidane, who are both out of work.
Potter, according to Sky Sports, has been reassured that – were he to take the Chelsea job – he will be given time to try to bring the ethos and football structure that both he and the club want.
Having turned down the chance to talk to other top clubs in recent years, Potter believes that Chelsea offers him the best chance to further his own coaching career at a world-class club.
Boehly axed Tuchel in a face-to-face meeting just three months after completing his takeover of the club.
Chelsea have been considering this decision for some time and it is not a knee-jerk reaction to Tuesday’s Champions League defeat to Dinamo Zagreb which co-owners Boehly and Behdad Eghbali both attended.
Tuchel lost his job because of an increasingly difficult relationship with the owners, who were willing to try and make it work with the German but it proved to be not possible.
Tuchel also had an increasingly difficult relationship with some players which is not unusual and happens at most clubs.
Boehly is still acting as sporting director having moved on director Marina Granovskaia, chairman Bruce Buck and technical and performance advisor Petr Cech this summer in a complete overhaul of the Roman Abramovich era.
The club invested a one-window Premier League record of £273m to revamp Tuchel’s squad this summer, bringing in Wesley Fofana, Kalidou Koulibaly, Marc Cucurella, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The owners believe they had a very good window and a new manager will bring even more out of the players. They had concerns for some time and have been looking at other options. Now they want a long-term appointment to move Chelsea forward, who is closely aligned with their vision for the club.
Chelsea sit sixth in the Premier League with 10 points following wins over Everton, Leicester, and West Ham, a 2-2 draw against Tottenham, and defeats at Leeds and Southampton.
Why Tuchel was sacked: Sky Sports senior reporter Rob Dorsett
“My understanding is the bosses at Chelsea, and some of the senior players, were concerned that the spark had gone out of Thomas Tuchel, that he wasn’t communicating as well as he had done in the past.
“Recent results – not just this season but stretching back into last season – were a reason for concern, particularly after more than £250m was spent by Chelsea in the transfer window.
“What they hope they’re getting in Graham Potter is someone who will be given a mandate to come in and change the entire footballing ethos at Chelsea, from the academy right through to the senior team.
“He’ll also be heavily involved in recruitment. What Chelsea want is a style of play the fans can get behind, like the one he’s introduced so successfully at Brighton.
“It’s very clear that, unless there’s a major hurdle, Potter is very likely to be the new Chelsea manager.”
With Sky Sports report
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