Chelsea took the decision to sack Graham Potter on Sunday evening after a difficult six months in charge at Stamford Bridge. Potter replaced Thomas Tuchel earlier this season but won just 12 of his 32 games which ultimately led to his dismissal.
Bruno Saltor has been confirmed as interim manager until a permanent replacement for Potter is appointed. Former Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann is a serious contender to replace the 47-year-old at Chelsea but the process of finding a new head coach will not be rushed, football.london understands.
Other candidates under consideration include the likes of Luis Enrique, Zinedine Zidane, Roberto De Zerbi and ex-Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino. Nagelsmann is admired by the Blues due to his work at RB Leipzig and Bayern, with technical director Christopher Vivell having already worked with the German during his time in the Bundesliga.
READ MORE: Christopher Nkunku has given Chelsea green light for next manager after Graham Potter sacking
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher revealed he never believed Potter's appointment would be a successful one and believes Boehly should have never sacked Tuchel - stating that his decision to remove Potter is the first correct one of his tenure.
"No," Carragher responded when asked if things would have ever worked out well for Potter at Chelsea.
"That’s clear after the event, I’ve just looked at the man they had in charge - Thomas Tuchel - one of the top managers in European football. You don’t sack Thomas Tuchel and go to Graham Potter.
"Again, I’m trying not to be disrespectful but the track records of both managers - of course there must have been problems behind the scenes with the new owner and Thomas Tuchel, I get that - he should have just stuck with Thomas Tuchel. The reason I don’t think it was ever a good fit is that Chelsea, alongside Real Madrid I would say, are probably the most ruthless clubs in how they deal with managers.
"It’s okay Todd Boehly coming in and saying ‘we’re going to do it different to Roman Abramovich,’ I don’t care what he says, those supporters the last 20 years have been brought up on a culture of winning trophies and changing managers and getting Champions League-winning managers coming in every two or three years. So they’re saying to Graham Potter after the game ‘you don’t know what you’re doing,’ chatting things like that and that’s one of the reasons why he’s gone.
"It doesn’t matter what the owner says, that’s what they’ve been brought up on at that club. The appointment was wrong straight away - I’m not saying Graham Potter couldn’t work for a big club, it just wasn’t the right fit.
"It was too ruthless at that club and the reason I actually think it was the right thing to do is, we’ll say ‘Graham Potter hasn’t been given time’ - I get that - but when you haven’t got a massive CV behind you of big trophies you’ve got to hit the ground running. We had Rafa Benitez at Liverpool, we won the Champions League at the end of that season but for a lot of that season it was very up and down.
"At the back of your mind as a player and as a supporter, you’re thinking: 'this is the guy who’s won two La Liga’s with Valencia, he knows what he’s doing.’ Graham Potter doesn’t have that unfortunately so he had to be right off it out the traps.
"And the reason, I think, it was the right decision is that the worst thing that can ever happen to a club is they’re not sure about a manager, they think: 'let’s get to the end of the season', they give him the pre-season and then at the start of the next season, first five games he loses two, wins one, draws two and they sack him.
"Then you’ve got a manager who’s bought players through the summer and you're chasing your tail yet again. I agree with everything he’s [Gary Neville] said about Todd Boehly, I’ve been very critical of Todd Boehly, but I think this is the first decision he’s got right."
Carragher speculated over which manager Chelsea appoint next and believes that Boehly should stick to the previous model that brought so much success to Stamford Bridge. The ex-Liverpool defender continued: "Do they go back to this idea of a young, up and coming coach, like Graham Potter but someone who’s maybe got a bit more of a CV behind them, the players would get behind them a little bit more?
"But that club is used to bringing in managers and managers are available right now. You think off the top of your head Zidane, Enrique, Nagelsmann - managers who’ve managed at the top level.
"This is what Chelsea have done in the past, I know it was a different owner and I’m not being critical at all - I don’t like some of the criticism Chelsea have got of ‘oh, they’ve sacked another manager’ - it works for them!
"I don’t care, they win trophies, change managers, and when you’ve got a manager going into Chelsea you know what the score is. So don’t complain when you actually lose your job because that club has been very successful with that culture."
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