Graham Potter leaves Swansea City to become Brighton & Hove Albion boss

Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion put an end to their manager search after appointing Swansea City manager Graham Potter as their new boss, penning a four-year deal.

This comes a week after Chris Hughton departed the AMEX Stadium, following the conclusion of the English top-flight in which the Seagulls just stayed in the league. They narrowly avoided the dreaded drop by two points, finishing 17th and losing 4-1 to Manchester City on the final game of the season.

Potter leaves championship side Swansea after leading them to a 10th place finish, while only being nine points away from the play-off’s in his first season back in English football since quitting as a player back in 2004-2005.

The 44-year-old only joined the Welsh side in June 2018 leaving Swedish top-tier club Ostersunds FK. In Sweden, the Englishman gained a huge reputation guiding Ostersunds from the fourth tier to the Allsvenskan.

During his time there he also won the Svenska Cupen which qualified his side into the Europa League. They were later knocked out by Arsenal but beat them 2-1 in the second leg at the Emirates.

Solihull born Potter spoke about the selling points to joining Brighton:

“I was sold by the long-term vision and passion shown by Tony Bloom, Paul Barber and Dan Ashworth.

The ideas and plans they have for the future of this football club excited me; I am thrilled and honoured to be a part of it.

This club has been on an incredible journey and my aim, along with my team of Bjorn (Hamberg), Kyle (Macaulay) and Billy (Reid), is to ensure the great work that has gone before us is built on, as we strive to cement our place in the Premier League for many years to come.”

Due to their new boss Potter being employed and under contract with the Welsh side, Brighton & Hove executives have had to pay the Championship side £3m in compensation to make the deal happen.

With the appointment of the former Swansea boss, his assistant manager Billy Reid, coach Bjorn Hamberg and head of recruitment Kyle Macaulay will also join Brighton in the team’s next chapter.