Chelsea eye three-time Champions League winner as Graham Potter replacement; £13.2m contract offer rumoured
Chelsea are eyeing up potential replacements for manager Graham Potter and former Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane is on Todd Boehly’s list of candidates.
The French icon has already shown his managerial abilities at the Bernabeu, winning two LaLiga titles and three Champions Leagues with Los Blancos.
The Blues have been very ambitious in the transfer market this season, so there is no reason why they wouldn’t continue that trend by bringing in Zidane.
Reports coming out of Spain claim that the French coach could be offered a lucrative deal worth €15 million (approx. £13.2m) a season to take the job at Stamford Bridge.
Potter arrived at Chelsea after a very successful stint at Brighton and Hove Albion, turning them from a side battling relegation into one that now regularly challenges for Europe.
However, his time at Stamford Bridge this season has been very, very underwhelming. The Blues currently sit in tenth place in the Premier League table after picking up just 31 points from a possible 69 so far.
This is despite Boehly spending borderline ridiculous amounts on players, bringing in the likes of Enzo Fernandez (£106.7m), Mykahylo Mudryk (£88.5m) and Benoit Badiashile (£32.7m), among many others.
As a result, pressure is mounting on the English coach, with Chelsea already looking at potential replacement candidates.
Indeed, a proven winner like Zidane could be exactly what the London giants back to the top of the Premier League, as Boehly’s new recruits get the time required to gel together and become a formidable team.
As mentioned, Zidane achieved great success with Madrid, winning multiple trophies. Looking at his managerial record, the Frenchman was at the helm for 284 matches across all competitions, winning 179 of them, giving him an impressive win percentage of 63%.
While it’s not really a fair comparison (we’re going to make it anyway), in contrast, Potter has overseen 34 matches so far as Chelsea boss, winning 14, thus having a win percentage of 41%.
This is actually the worst of any Chelsea manager in Premier League history, so it’s not hard to see why the Stamford Bridge faithful are growing increasingly impatient with the former Brighton man.
Publicly, the Blues are willing to give Potter time to turn their form around, as his new recruits improve their chemistry on the pitch. However, if results don’t improve dramatically very quickly, his time is surely numbered.
Chelsea’s next three matches come up against Tottenham, Leeds United and Borussia Dortmund (Champions League), so the Englishman’s future is likely to rely on those performances.
Indeed, with the London club already 1-0 down against Dortmund on aggregate, if they fail to beat rivals Spurs and relegation strugglers Leeds, crashing out of the Champions League may be the final nail in the coffin for Potter.
If that happens, it seems Zidane could be one of the favourites to replace him.
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