Brighton chief Paul Barber issues 'Plan B' statement as Graham Potter reaches Chelsea agreement

Graham Potter has verbally agreed to become Chelsea’s new head coach.

The 47-year-old will continue talks with Chelsea’s new owners, but is now expected to leave Brighton for Chelsea.

New Chelsea owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali are understood to have met a release fee in Potter’s Amex Stadium contract, with Brighton allowing the Blues to talk to their manager.

It’s huge blow for Brighton as Potter was a popular figure with the fans and has transfer formed the team from relegation strugglers to a team capable of challenging for Europe.

Albion chief executive and deputy chairman Paul Barber however had already stated he and the club always have a plan B and gave this insight when speaking on the Albion podcast last month.

“When you look for manager you look for a number of things,” Barber said.

"You look at their fit for the club, you look at the type of football they play and how they represent the club because the manager is by far the most visible part of the club day to day.

"All of those things then have to go into a mix on who you can afford, who is available, will they come and what kind of contract, what you need to do to the squad to give them the best chance of success, who are they going to bring with them, what kind of backroom team.

“We keep tabs on managers and coaches all around the world all of the time. We know the emerging talent, we know where they, we know what type of contracts they are on.

"That is forward planning, that is making sure you have always got a plan B and always have an opportunity to move quickly if you need to.

“We had tabs on Graham for some seasons well before we engaged with him. We tracked his progress in Sweden, in European football where he achieved success.”

Barber added: “You have to pick you manager and head coach for the point in time the club is at.

"You try and match personality and experience the club needs at any given time. The board has a particular type of coach we like to work with. With have developed a strong culture.”