Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has encouraged Todd Boehly to give Graham Potter more time to prove himself at Chelsea. The 47-year-old faces an increasingly uncertain future at Stamford Bridge after a defeat to Aston Villa saw the Blues fall into the bottom-half of the table.
The west London outfit are now 11 points adrift of fourth-placed Tottenham. With qualification to UEFA competitions via the Premier League almost out of reach, Chelsea are under pressure to win the Champions League – but the holders, Real Madrid stand in their way.
Though not impossible, it'll certainly be a difficult challenge. Boehly will be demanding results as of now but Hasselbaink reminded the American billionaire that he replaced Thomas Tuchel for Potter because he wanted a project, not necessarily short-term success.
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"You’ve made a decision of going with young players, so you have to give them the time to make mistakes and get it right," the former Chelsea striker told Sky Sports, as quoted by the Daily Mail. "You have to give them time, otherwise, they are never going to be the final product if they don’t go through this period.
"And you have made the decision to go for Potter," Hasselbaink added. "At the moment they are in a difficult time, but I feel you have to stick with him. You have gone with young players and Potter, stick with the project."
While Hasselbaink is hoping that Chelsea will give Potter more time, the Blues appear to be putting together a contingency plan behind the scenes. According to Fabrizio Romano, Julian Nagelsmann has always been 'appreciated' by the club as a future top coach.
Ironically, he was replaced by Thomas Tuchel at Bayern Munich earlier this month. However, even if the Blues were to go for Nagelsmann, Sky Sports Germany claim that it's 'unlikely' the 35-year-old would take on the job straight away.
Nevertheless, Nagelsmann has emerged as a favourite among Chelsea fans already after a chorus of boos and chants were aimed at Potter. But, despite the 'negativity' among supporters, the Blues boss insisted that they're fighting for one another.
"They're professional footballers, they play for Chelsea, they understand the demand, they understand what it is, where we are, they're not stupid," Potter said.
"They accept the responsibility, they're honest, they want to do better. We're there fighting for each other and fighting together so there's no complaints for how the supporters respond."
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