Graham Potter’s return to Chelsea coming on deadline day feels symbolic. West Ham’s head coach does not look back fondly at the extravaganza of player trading when he was in charge at Stamford Bridge in January 2023. It was a time of chaos and unreasonable pressure. The new owners were spending like there was no tomorrow and by the time the window closed it was left to Potter to make sense of a squad so bloated there was not enough space for everyone in the first-team dressing room.
Good luck with that. Chelsea had crowed after beating Arsenal to Mykhaylo Mudryk. Negotiations with Benfica led to a British transfer record for Enzo Fernández. Noni Madueke, David Datro Fofana and Benoît Badiashile joined. A deal for Malo Gusto was confirmed for the summer. João Félix arrived on loan. Jorginho took his experience and nous to Arsenal. Hakim Ziyech’s loan to Paris Saint-Germain collapsed because of technical issues. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had to be cut from the squad for the Champions League knockout stages. Potter, who takes West Ham to Stamford Bridge on Monday night, watched it all unfold and knew that expectations were about to go through the roof.
