Chelsea turn to Potter to weave his magic in SW6

Graham Potter will be asked to weave his magic and propel Chelsea up the Premier League, starting tomorrow in the tricky away derby at Fulham.

Potter has sat under the sorting hat, and was told to zip up the motorway from the South Coast and spend a few years learning the Dark Arts at the House of Stamford Bridge, hopefully winning a Triwizard trophy or two along the way.

He has waved his wand over a five-year deal at SW6 following the sacking of Thomas Tuchel on Wednesday morning.

So much love-in has spread around social media about the departed German, that one would think that new owner Todd Boehly was Voldermort and he had just slain a Muggle or two.

The fact is that his charges had just lost the opening Champions League match against the minnows of the group Dinamo Zagreb with the more daunting prospects of RB Salzburg and AC Milan to come.

That follows a contentious and somewhat fortunate 2-1 home win over misfiring West Ham at the weekend.

Results and performances so far this season have been poor.

The one truly impressive league match was the encounter against Spurs which ended in a draw.

Boehly was never going to sack Tuchel while the transfer window was still open. Too much time with agents and players were required to deal with Tuchel during this period.

He was also useful as a sounding board to Boehly.

Tuchel had cut a frustrated figure all season and even during the pre-season tour to the US. It suggested that he and the board were not on the same page in terms of what he needed on the pitch.

The early binning of young midfielder Billy Gilmour was a sign that Tuchel was attempting to wrest back control of the squad. He had lost out on Romelu Lukaku. He wanted the Belgium striker to stay. But when the board and player want out, there was only one outcome.

The fact that the club will lose the best part of their £100million investment will also have hurt Boehly.

Tuchel failed to get a tune out of Lukaku last season and there was little prospect in the collective mind of the board that the boss would do it this season.

These conflicting tensions culminating in the team selection ultimately led to the parting of the ways – and as the saying goes “he who pays the piper, calls the tune” and Tuchel and his team were soon packing their bags.

Chelsea Women start the defence of their WSL title on Sunday with a match against West Ham at Stamford Bridge.

A bumper crowd of 25,000 fans is expected.

There is much talk about how the England side’s Euro victory in the summer will provide a springboard of enthusiasm for the women’s game.

Chelsea were hopeful of breaking the world transfer record following Keria Walsh’s move from Manchester City to Barcelona this week. The Blues are keen to land central midfielder Grace Geyoro from Paris Saint-Germain.

Chelsea had a bid close to £450,000 rejected last week.

Walsh’s deal was undisclosed but is in excess of the £250,000 Chelsea paid for the Denmark striker Pernille Harder, 29, in 2020.

That was a world record and Chelsea went up to the wire in yesterday’s transfer deadline to secure the services of Geyoro.

Harder said this week she would be happy to see another world record smashed: “It’s good for women’s football to get the money rolling.

“I’m happy that it will keep getting higher. That’s what I wanted. It’s a good development for women’s football – that players don’t have to play their contracts out.”