EPL: We tried – Potter reveals 2 top players he wanted to sign for Chelsea

Former Chelsea manager, Graham Potter has hinted that he ‘tried’ to sign Harry Kane and Declan Rice during his time in charge at Stamford Bridge.

Recall that Chelsea spent £21 million to prise Potter and his coaching staff from Brighton after the shock sacking of Thomas Tuchel in 2022.

The Clearlake consortium led by Todd Boehly had spent £300 million that same year before Potter’s appointment which centred largely on recruiting young players in Europe.

Chelsea had also been linked with moves for both Kane and Rice.

Speaking about the development, Potter told The Telegraph: “It was almost like the perfect storm.

“We lost Reece [James] and Wesley [Fofana] to injury. I think we had the most players at the World Cup and pretty quickly afterwards we lost Raheem [Sterling] and Christian Pulisic.

“Then the ownership decided to invest a lot of money in the squad, £300 million in the January transfer window.

“But, obviously, if you spend £300 million, the pressure on the team goes up and the pressure on the coach goes up. And people go: ‘Come on then, you’ve spent all this money.’

“I think if I’d have spent it on Harry Kane and Declan Rice, then fair enough, but at the time that was the decision. We tried to support it as best we could, but it left us with a challenge of a lot of players after January and then they can’t go anywhere.”

EPL: We tried – Potter reveals 2 top players he wanted to sign for Chelsea