Adrian Kagumba: Bruno Saltour was under Graham Potter but now the Brighton legend is in the hot seat at Chelsea… and it will be a big test for the calm personality who plans to train
It was a big enough decision for Bruno Saltour to agree to leave his beloved Brighton to join Chelsea when he had the chance to stay.
His head must be spinning now after the whirlwind events that left him in charge of Stamford Bridge.
The 42-year-old was installed as Chelsea’s caretaker manager following the sacking of Graham Potter on Sunday and will address the media on Monday afternoon ahead of his Liverpool debut.
With the remainder of the season the Chelsea hierarchy felt they had a better chance of salvaging it with the Spaniard in charge after it had reached the point where their faith in Potter had finally run out.
It’s a great opportunity for a man who didn’t think of being a coach when he was a player but warmed to the idea as soon as he started coaching.
Bruno Saltor (right) must be excited after the whirlwind events that saw his mentor Graham Potter sacked as Chelsea manager on Sunday and the Spaniard appointed as interim boss.
Former right-back Bruno joined Brighton from Spain in 2012 and helped them to promotion
He finished his career at the club in 2019 as a legend before becoming a coach for Al-Nawras
But there may be little sadness over the circumstances in which that opportunity came the way of Bruno, the former right-back in Spain before joining Brighton from Valencia in 2012.
Potter was Bruno’s mentor and gave him his big break coaching at Brighton, where he played for seven years before ending his career as a legend in 2019, being honored with a mural in the city.
He started as a Senior Development Coach at Brighton, working under Potter – who saw enough coaching quality in Bruno to trust him to set up many Brighton coaching sessions.
Brighton wanted to keep Bruno when Chelsea came calling for Potter, but the former, described as a calm character and a good human being, chose to leave with the latter for Chelsea, along with Billy Reid, Bjorn Hamburg, goalkeeper coach Ben Roberts and recruitment specialist Kyle. Macaulay.
It is an unusual situation that causes the group to break up.
While a manager who leaves tends to leave all of his backroom staff with him, given they are under contract, some have stayed behind to help Chelsea through the recent transfer window.
Assistant Principal Reed left with Potter but Macaulay, Hamburg and Roberts remained.
It’s not yet clear exactly how long they’ll stay at the helm and Bruno leads them, aiming to pick up the pieces from a man he’ll be forever indebted to.
The 42-year-old moved from Brighton to Chelsea alongside manager Potter (left) in September
The quiet ‘good man’ now has a huge chance to lead the Blues in this campaign
