10 April 2023 , 00:00
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Kalidou Koulibaly believes that former Chelsea boss Graham Potter is still destined to have a bright future in football despite being sacked by the Blues.
The Londoners prised Potter away from Brighton back in September to succeed Thomas Tuchel, who was axed just weeks after Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital purchased the club from Roman Abramovich.
Potter was Chelsea's top-choice to replace the German in the wake of his impressive work on the South Coast. However, the 47-year-old failed to live up to expectations at Stamford Bridge and was relieved of his duties last week with the Blues languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League.
Club legend Frank Lampard was quickly installed as caretaker manager until the end of the season in the days leading up to Saturday's 1-0 defeat against Wolves and several players have since spoken out on the managerial change.
Koulibaly was brought to Stamford Bridge by Tuchel in the summer but spent the majority of his brief Blues career working under Potter. And the veteran, who sent Potter a private message after his dismissal, believes that the highly-rated coach will rebound from his disappointing stint in west London.
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Speaking to The Times, Koulibaly said: "I sent [Potter] a message. He helped me a lot. It was difficult for me at first, changing country and moving everything after eight years [at Napoli] and I can tell him thank you. He’ll have a good future."
Bruno Saltor, who followed Potter to Stamford Bridge from Brighton, took charge of Chelsea's 0-0 draw with Liverpool in midweek before Boehly and co-controlling owner Behdad Eghbali approached Lampard about taking the reins until the end of the season.
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Kalidou Koulibaly has been in touch with former Chelsea boss Graham Potter (Getty Images)The 44-year-old has been out of work since being sacked by Everton in January and was relieved of his duties after just 18 months at the helm by Abramovich during his first stint in the Chelsea hotseat back in January 2021.
But Koulibaly has backed Lampard to make a difference to Chelsea's beleaguered squad and revealed that the former midfielder - who is also the club's all-time leading goalscorer - rallied the troops with a rousing speech shortly after taking charge.
Koulibaly added: "When you change managers, it’s like you failed somewhere. You have to keep on fighting, and we’ll give everything. Our new manager is a big legend, so we have to be behind him. We know we can do better – and we will.
"[Lampard] made a nice speech and tried to speak with everybody and involve everybody. I know that is difficult when you have a lot of players, like us, but he was really motivated and really motivated us."