Brighton boss Graham Potter has quickly emerged as Chelsea's primary managerial target in the wake of Thomas Tuchel's brutal dismissal on Wednesday morning.
The former Swansea chief has been linked with a host of high-profile jobs in the top-flight over the past 12 months, including roles at Tottenham and Manchester United. Despite that interest, nobody has yet pulled the trigger on a move for the highly-rated coach; although that could be about to change.
Potter is firmly on Todd Boehly's radar after his stunning start to the season with the Seagulls - and he's already been given a glowing endorsement from Stamford Bridge royalty in the form of John Terry.
After dispensing with Tuchel, Chelsea immediately approached Brighton for permission to speak to Potter, who has a reported £16million release clause written into his contract. However, that is not anticipated to be a problem for Chelsea, who have already spent significant sums of money since Boehly assumed control of the club earlier this year.
Potter, who was appointed by Brighton back in 2019, has won plaudits for implementing an attractive, expansive style of football at the AMEX Stadium. And the 47-year-old's stock is at an all-time high after he guided the Seagulls to their highest-ever league position last term, finishing ninth.
And a move for Potter has already been endorsed by former Blues favourite Terry, who showered the former Ostersunds coach with praise on social media just two weeks ago. The former defender tweeted: "How good is Graham Potter? I love how Brighton play and he has to be one of the best young managers around. Ticks every box for me."
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Although it remains to be seen if the Londoners will be able to prise Potter away from the south coast, the Brighton chief may well find it hard to turn down a club of Chelsea's stature.
The Blues are aiming to make a swift appointment, with the club hopeful of having Tuchel's successor in place before this weekend's west London derby with Fulham.
Under Tuchel, Chelsea had endured an indifferent start to the new Premier League campaign and fell to a shock 1-0 defeat against Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League on Tuesday night, but the German had won three trophies during his 21 month tenure and had just been backed to the tune of around £270million in the transfer market.
But that didn't prevent the former Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund chief from being axed in a brutal 10 minute phonecall with Boehly and the new Chelsea regime less than 24 hours after their chastening defeat in Zagreb.
In a statement, Chelsea confirmed that the club's current coaching staff would oversee preparations for Saturday's trip to Craven Cottage in the wake of Tuchel's exit.
Although Potter is seemingly Chelsea's preferred candidate to replace Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino and Zinedine Zidane are two other names who are thought to be of interest to Boehly and the Stamford Bridge hierarchy.
