Graham Potter accepts Chelsea have taken calculated risks by signing players to six, seven and eight-year contracts – but the Blues head coach is confident the strategy will pay off as the new arrivals “are not here to be fourth or third, they are here to win”. Chelsea have also taken the same approach with several academy graduates: Reece James, Trevoh Chalobah and Armando Broja have all signed long-term contracts this term.
Graham potter said: “With every decision, you should have the humility to say we haven’t got all the answers. You can’t see into the future, so you’ve got to make the best educated guess you can, try to predict as closely as you can what you think may happen. Then you make a decision accordingly. That is the challenge. To think, ‘Ok what is the right thing for us? How do we do that?’ The players we have identified are young and they have got quality – as you saw with Badiashile at the weekend. With Mudryk and Joao coming on loan, there is a certain type of player signed in terms of age. They are starting their careers so they are ambitious, they want to achieve things. They are not here to be fourth or third, they are here to win and compete. Those are the upsides but is there a life without risk? No. Whatever you do there is risk and there is a chance it might not work.”
Chelsea have spent close to £500m on players under Boehly/Clearlake. That is proof of the ownership group’s ambition and willingness to provide Potter with a squad that can compete at the top echelon of the Premier League and Champions League for years to come.
Graham Potter said: “I have come here to win – that’s the job and that’s what we are trying to do. In order to do that you have to build a team, a culture, and an environment. I look at the last five years and the teams that have won the title have done so with 90-plus points. That’s not just about talent, that’s about environment, culture, a daily consistent behaviour, aligning your resources in the correct way and then fighting every day. So that’s what we have to do here. “We are on the right path, we are at the start of it but it’s exciting. I think we can do it but it is going to take a lot of work.”
