Graham Potter ‘got what he wanted’ after West Ham back down in talks
Graham Potter came out on top in negotiations with West Ham after agreeing a deal to become the club’s new manager, Jacob Steinberg reports.
Potter had initially asked for a two-and-a-half year year contract, whilst the West Ham board wanted the English manager in on a six-month deal.
The inability to find an agreement with the former Chelsea manager seemed to have stopped any chance of an agreement being reached, and Michael Carrick was being considered internally.
However, an agreement has now been reached and despite reports from elsewhere that suggested there would be a break clause in his deal [the Guardian], Jacob Steinberg has reported on social media platform X that there are no such clauses.
The news comes the same day the Hammers sacked Julen Lopetegui, despite making him lead the days training session, something West Ham fans called “shocking”.
Graham Potter now has the time to perfect his West Ham project
Football Insider opinion
The West ham board have shown a degree of good faith in their new manager by giving him what he wanted.
Potter was an in-demand manager with Everton being linked with a move for the English manager causing the East London side to move quickly.
It seemed initially that they viewed the former Brighton manager as a stop gap option to guide the club through till the end of the season.
There had been links to Fenerbahce manager, Jose Mourinho, who holds more name value than Potter.
However, the Irons board were clearly impressed with what they saw from the Englishman and are now planning the future around him.
Potter is still a talented manager and whilst his time at Chelsea was unimpressive, his success working on a shoe-string budget and relying on data analysis will be why the club from East London have committed to his ideas of a longer-term project.
The Hammers hold a similar stature to the Seagulls and will be aiming for European football in the coming seasons under Potter.
In other news, West Ham could move for a cut-price full-back this January.
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