Germany manager Hansi Flick spotted at Stamford Bridge as pressure on Graham Potter increases

Germany national team manager Hansi Flick was spotted in the crowd at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea went on to draw 0-0 with Fulham, with Graham Potter's role as Chelsea manager under intense scrutiny.

Potter has not had the happiest start as Chelsea manager, failing to turn the team's fortunes around since being appointed following Thomas Tuchel's sacking in September.

With only nine wins and seven losses in his opening 22 games, the limelight has well and truly been on the former Brighton manager in recent weeks.

Chelsea currently sit in 9th in the Premier League table, 10 points adrift of top four and having only won one game so far this year.

In addition to the questionable form, Chelsea's January transfer window spending came to an astonishing £320+ million on nine new players, which includes Joao Felix, Mykhailo Mudryk and Enzo Fernandez.

This adds on to the eight players the Blues brought in last summer, meaning results are expected to justify all this spending.

Amidst the bad form and underwhelming results, the last thing Graham Potter and the Chelsea squad need are rumours about a possible new manager in Hansi Flick taking Potter's place once he gets sacked.

The Chelsea board have promised Potter that he has beyond this season to build his own team, a new Chelsea implemented with his ideas.

But with Hansi Flick's future as Germany boss under question, the rumours linking him with the Chelsea job are starting to persist in the media. The Chelsea-Fulham game was not the first time Flick was spotted watching the Blues, as he watched Chelsea lost 1-0 to Manchester City last season in a game that featured several German Internationals.

This time though, there was only one German international in Kai Havertz, which has led some to believe that the primary reason for Flick's visit was to meet up with Chelsea's new American owner Todd Boehly.

The former Bayern Munich manager has previously won two Bundesliga titles, a Champions League, a DFB-Pokal and the FIFA Club World Cup in his career.

Chelsea owner Todd Boehly watches on from the stands. Image: Alamy

Germany's disappointing performance at the Qatar World Cup has also seemingly put Flick in a dangerous position in terms of the security of his national team job, which could make him available for a return to club football, and more specifically, at Chelsea.

Last month, Potter spoke about how he was not worried about the security of his job, and that he fully believed in himself and his squad to bring success back to Chelsea.

"I think Pep was (at Manchester City) a year before they’d won anything, and then obviously Mikel and Jurgen took a bit of time.

"But obviously it’s maybe different for me, for some reason. But I don’t put a timescale on it. I know the responsibility we have here.

"But also I know that I am capable, and I know the quality that I have and I have the full support of certainly the owners, the players and the staff here."

Chelsea have a huge run of games coming up, which includes both legs of a pivotal last-16 tie against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.

Topics: Germany, Chelsea, Chelsea Transfer News & Rumours, Graham Potter

Joshua Nair

Freelance football writer.

@joshnair10