Chelsea manager search: Who is interim coach Bruno Saltor? | Football News

April 3, 2023 admin

With no managerial experience, Graham Potter’s first-team coach Bruno Saltor is the unlikely man tasked with leading Chelsea until the end of the season – but who is the Blues’ interim manager?

The last name may throw you off, but Bruno – as he like to be known – was well-known as a player, having spent seven years with Brighton.

He was a cult favourite as a player with the Seagulls, making 235 appearances and helping the team achieve promotion in the 2016/17 season as Sky Bet Championship runners-up.

Bruno was also key in establishing Brighton as a competitive Premier League club, playing under Chris Hughton and Potter before retiring in May 2019.

His playing status is immortalised with a mural in Brighton entitled ‘El Capitan’ which was painted on the side of a building in the city’s North Laine area to mark their first season in the Premier League.

After retirement, the former right-back joined Potter’s coaching staff as senior player development coach, before departing for Chelsea alongside the former Blues manager in September 2022.

Now, Bruno finds himself in charge of one of Premier League’s biggest clubs – despite having only three and a half years experience as a coach. His first task will come against Liverpool in the league on Tuesday evening, live on Sky Sports.

Co-controlling owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali said in their statement: “Along with our incredible fans, we will all be getting behind Bruno and the team as we focus on the rest of the season.

“We have 10 Premier League games remaining and a Champions League quarter final ahead. We will put every effort and commitment into every one of those games so that we can end the season on a high.”

He has the challenging task of trying to transform a disjointed and underperforming side full of big-money players, as well as navigating an extremely difficult Champions League quarter-final up against Real Madrid.

“Let’s see where the future takes me and I will just try to be ready for whatever comes up,” Bruno said in an interview with Sky Sports in 2021.

He is now – for time being – the manager of Chelsea. Let’s see if he’s ready.

How to follow Bruno’s first Chelsea game live on Sky Sports

Bruno’s first game as interim Chelsea manager will be shown live on Sky Sports as they host Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday evening in the Premier League.

Coverage begins from 7pm on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event, with kick off at 8pm.

You can also follow all the latest updates in our dedicated live blog on the Sky Sports website and app, with free in-game clips and free match highlights available across Sky Sports’ digital platforms shortly after full-time.

Who will be the next permanent Chelsea boss?

According to Chelsea, Potter ‘has agreed to collaborate with the club to facilitate a smooth transition’ and Julian Nagelsmann has already emerged as a frontrunner to be his long-term successor.

“For all Chelsea’s insistence that they were investing in a process manager and his “innovative coaching” – plus their continued claims of backing his vision – the club’s approach, especially recruitment-wise, was in contrast to Graham Potter’s entire career,” reflected Sky Sports’ Melissa Reddy.

“Chelsea have twice before tried to tempt Mauricio Pochettino. They are one of three known Premier League clubs making a long play for [Brighton boss and Potter successor] Roberto De Zerbi. But the timing of this Potter decision, with Nagelsmann freshly available and Spurs circling, is instructive.”

However, there are doubts that the 35-year-old German is currently prepared to move to London.

“Chelsea will have been doing their homework in the background, trying to set up a replacement. At the moment, we don’t know who that person will be. What we do know is that they want Julian Nagelsmann and and he is available at the moment,” explained Sky Sports News’ chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol.

“The latest information we have coming out from Sky Germany is that they’re not convinced that he’s going to want to move from Germany and take another job straightaway. Maybe he’s going to want to wait until the summer to give him a little bit of a chance to recharge his batteries after leaving Bayern Munich.

“The information I’ve got from my colleagues at Sky Germany this evening is it is 50:50 as to whether Nagelsmann would be prepared to move to Chelsea at the moment.”