Graham Potter will not be the new coach of Olympique Lyon, Fabrizio Romano has reported. L’Equipe wrote on Wednesday that the former Chelsea manager was the top candidate to get started at the last of Ligue 1, but according to the Italian transfer journalist, Potter does not think the time is right to step in.
Rarely has there been such a deep crisis in recent years as now at Lyon. La Reine managed to collect only one point in the first four league matches and is at the bottom on goal difference. In the preparation, the team was not even able to produce a single goal, except for the duel with De Treffers (2-1 win). It has led to a considerable increase in the pressure on Laurent Blanc.
Lyon’s fans were LIVID with the team following their 4-1 defeat to PSG!
This is unprecedented! ???? pic.twitter.com/dixA9TwRPE
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) September 4, 2023
The Frenchman took over from the dismissed Peter Bosz last fall, but was unable to finish the season higher than seventh overall. Result: Lyon will not be released in Europe for the second consecutive year. To make matters worse, Blanc also saw a large number of players leave this summer and he has to make do with a considerably thinned selection.
Bradley Barcola (Paris Saint-Germain), Castello Lukeba (RB Leipzig), Houssem Aouar (AS Roma), Moussa Dembélé (Al-Ettifaq) and Romain Faivre (Bournemouth FC), among others, left. Lyon has been having problems getting around the budget for some time and was therefore unable to find worthy replacements. Trainers are therefore not eager to take over from the plagued Blanc.
L’Equipe previously reported that Blanc’s position would come under heavy pressure in a defeat against Paris Saint-Germain. Now that the team lost 4-1 last weekend without a chance, work is being done behind the scenes on his succession. Potter was quickly put forward as an ideal candidate and also traveled to Lyon to hold talks with the club management, but nevertheless decided against the job.
The 48-year-old Englishman, who was sacked as manager of Chelsea in April this year, does not think it is the right time to start a new adventure. Potter put himself on the map as manager of Brighton & Hove Albion between 2019 and 2022. It resulted in a transfer to Chelsea in September last year, but despite some major investments, the results failed to materialise. He was fired after 207 days.