Chelsea

Chelsea

Premier League • England

Graham Potter sack latest: Surprise Premier League name emerges on Chelsea radar in left-field choice

Chelsea manager Graham Potter

Chelsea are reportedly considering turning to a Premier League rival amid growing concerns from the club’s ownership over the direction they are moving in under Graham Potter.

The official line coming out of Stamford Bridge is that Potter’s job remains safe and that the Blues are planning for the long-term under the former Brighton manager.

However, Chelsea are in danger of sliding further down the table given their current form. The Blues currently sit 10th and have won only two of their last 12 games under Potter, with Sunday’s defeat at Tottenham making it three defeats in a row.

The west London outfit are currently on pace for their worst league finish since the 2015/16 campaign, when they ended up 10th.

And with contingency plans already said to be in place, the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Mauricio Pochettino, Luis Enrique, Diego Simeone and former boss Jose Mourinho are all being linked with the job.

But now a report from Football Insider claims that Chelsea are also admirers of the job Thomas Frank is doing at Brentford.

The 49-year-old has adapted an exciting, high-energy playing style with the Bees and also has a proven track record of developing younger players.

Those are all attributes that new owner Todd Boehly is searching for and thought he had with Potter.

However, results and performance levels are way off what Chelsea are looking for, even if the Potter era is considered a long-term project. Indeed, it’s now rumoured that he has two games to save his job.

Frank a left-field choice for Chelsea job

As for Frank, his Brentford side are currently four points ahead of the Blues in the table.

Last season was Brentford’s first in the Premier League and they are once again punching massively above their weight under the Dane.

Frank only signed a contract extension in December last year, committing him to the club until 2027. To that end, it will take a hefty compensation figure to tempt Brentford into parting ways with their manager.

But for Boehly and his Clearlake Capital co-investors, they want to see at least some improvement for the £600million investment they’ve made on new recruits since taking over before the start of this season.

Over half of that total figure was splashed out under Potter in January when Chelsea totally obliterated previous Premier League spending records.

Next up for Chelsea is the visit of Leeds in the Premier League on Saturday.

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