Chelsea
have announced Graham Potter as their head coach after his departure from
Brighton.
The 47-year-old has signed a five-year contract and will take charge of the
team immediately.
Kyle MacAulay, the recruitment expert that's been with him since his
Ostersunds days, assistant head coach Billy Reid and first-team coach Bjorn
Hamburg have also left Brighton to join Potter at Stamford Bridge.
Tuchel was sacked on Wednesday in the wake of Chelsea's 1-0 loss to Dinamo
Zagreb in the Champions League and just six games into the new Premier
League season.
Chelsea owner Todd Boehly met Potter in central London on Wednesday
afternoon for what were described as "positive talks" about the Brighton
manager's future role at Stamford Bridge and the club's plans to develop the
whole football operation.
Those discussions continued early on Thursday morning, with the focus on the
legal details of his contract and Potter's backroom staff.
Chelsea made it clear they were prepared 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 all also on Chelsea's radar.
Potter becomes the first managerial appointment of the Boehly era following
his summer takeover. The American is still acting as sporting director
having moved on director Marina Granovskaia, chairman Bruce Buck and
technical and performance advisor Petr Cech in a complete overhaul of Roman
Abramovich's trusted staff.
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