Mega-money buys have piled even more pressure on Potter
GRAHAM POTTER finds himself in a blessed but bizarrely even more precarious position after Chelsea’s record-breaking January transfer window. Expensive gifts have been raining down on Chelsea’s manager after the crazed global shopping spree. There are 323 million reasons for him to feel grateful.
Which Premier League manager would not want Enzo Fernandez, the young player of theworld Cup, in his squad or a forward of such rich promise as Mykhaylo Mudryk?
The Chelsea manager’s problem is that the continued colossal level of spending has painted him ever more tightly into a corner at Stamford Bridge.
If managers at the top clubs have precious little wriggle room to start with, Potter has precisely none now. He has to deliver.
Potter’s start at his first big club since he upgraded – in theory – from
Brighton has been underwhelming.
Sifting through the talent in his squad and finding the right combinations has proved difficult. He has not been helped by injuries but it has looked like a manager blinking in the bright lights.
It was never going to be straightforward for a manager without a bank of comparable work behind him, and an equally green coaching staff, to win over a big-time squad.
Being the Premier League boss you would expect to know most about oxbow lakes does not cut the mustard in these surroundings.
He must be finding some of what is going around him at
Chelsea strange, to say the least.
This is not a world with which Potter is familiar. His most expensive signing at
Swedish club
Ostersunds,
Tom
Pettersson, cost £105,000.At Swansea it was Bersant Celina at £3.4million; at Brighton it was Enock Mwepu for £20.5m.
Now here he is dealing with a £107mworld Cup winner in Fernandez.
The rule of thumb in football tends to be the bigger the price tag the bigger the ego and if that is the case Potter has some whoppers to massage at Chelsea but, hey, tiny violin time – he has one of the most prized jobs in English football.
Intense scrutiny comes with it as does weekly judgment and so far, after Friday night’s disjointed home draw against Fulham, Potter is scoring a disappointing five out of 10.
Chelsea are through to the knockout stages of the Champions
League but qualification for next season, which is surely the base level requirement for him in the role, is looking a long shot.
For a club that has competed among Europe’s elite for 18 of the last 19 seasons, and won the tournament in 2021, missing out this season is almost unthinkable and a significant misstep for
Potter. Under Roman Abramovich the sharks could sit down at the table with their napkins on and their knives and forks ready – he would be walking the plank if it happened.
COULD he survive such a finish under Todd Boehly? All the talk from the American ownership has been of the future and the part Potter will play in that regardless of what happens in his first season. Such long-termism is welcome – and rare – in football.
But, five months in, there is already a cohort of Potter-sceptics among the Chelsea fan base.the Thomas Tuchel chants during last month’s FA Cup thrashing at Manchester City must have made for uncomfortable hearing for Potter as well as his employers.
Should the rollneck controller fail to make his new puzzle parts fit together pretty smartly, those rumblings of discontent will only grow.
How would Boehly’s bold vision, with Potter at its heart, stand up to a full-scale popular revolt?
Then we are into owner backbone-test territory – not a place any manager wants to be.
Those of us who have been crying out for more English managers to be given the chance at the very highest level will be hoping it does not come to that.
If Potter fails to stay the course then there would only be Eddie Howe, Gary O’neil and Sean
Dyche left in the Premier League – and the latter two might be in the Championship next season.
On every step of his managerial journey so far, Potter has proved himself an astute and intelligent manager.
The higher you climb, though, the thinner the oxygen becomes.
Chelsea was a job he had to take but there were always risks for his reputation involved too.
Ironic as it seems, the splurge that could be the making of Chelsea under Potter could also represent the greatest threat to his survival.
Expectations, already high, are now stratospheric.*