There’s a Bruno at Chelsea now! After Graham Potter left Chelsea following a poor run of form which saw them drop out of the top half of the Premier League, the club has announced that Bruno Saltor will take charge of the first team as interim Head Coach.
Bruno Saltor will take care of Chelsea as Interim coach. 🚨🔵 #CFC
Boehly & Eghbali: “We all will be getting behind Bruno and the team as we focus on the rest of the season. We have 10 Premier League games remaining and a Champions League quarter final ahead”. pic.twitter.com/9t5Q3DCCZK
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) April 2, 2023
Bruno Saltor at Chelsea would be an interesting experiment. The club are looking at permanent candidates, and Julian Nagelsmann is the odds-on favourite to become the next coach. In the meantime, there is a curiosity among the Chelsea fanbase about who Bruno Saltor is. We attempt to answer the question with a career retrospective, along with what Bruno’s Chelsea could look like.
Who is Bruno Saltor?
A Spanish RB who went simply by the name “Bruno”, he uses his full name- Bruno Saltor in his coaching career.
Bruno came through the academy of Espanyol, Barcelona’s traditional rivals. After failing to make the grade there, he broke through late in his career with Almeria which eventually earned him a move to Valencia.
Two seasons later, Bruno started his journey at Brighton where he would go on to achieve icon status, along with crossing paths with a certain Graham Potter.
Bruno had already announced his retirement ten days before Potter joined Brighton. However, having served the club for nearly eight years, Potter recognised his influence to be invaluable to his new coaching staff.
Less than a month later, Bruno Saltor was retained by Graham Potter at Brighton as Senior Player Development coach.
He worked with Potter during Brighton’s highest-ever PL finish, as the club finished 9th. After impressing the club and staff, Potter deemed him worthy to take him to Chelsea when the London club came calling in September of this season.
Bruno Saltor’s Chelsea- What to expect?
In his short coaching career so far, Bruno Saltor hasn’t had the chance to define his philosophy. Moreover, nobody, including Bruno, would be under any false assumption that this will be anything other than a short interim gig. Chelsea are already preparing to contact Julian Nagelsmann. However, that doesn’t mean games under Bruno Saltor will be write-offs. Languishing in 11th place as of the time of writing, Chelsea need a late charge to finish in European places at least.
🚨 Understand there have been already approaches for Julian Nagelsmann to be the new Chelsea head coach. Talks will continue to make final decision — but he’s the favorite. #CFC
No confirmation on Pochettino links at this stage. Nagelsmann, mentioned in internal talks yesterday. pic.twitter.com/1jcxrgjRYd
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) April 2, 2023
Bruno Saltor at Chelsea would be expected to bring a fresh voice to the dressing room beaten down by the negative rhetoric surrounding Graham Potter. Having prior experience of specialising in player development, he would be the perfect guiding voice for Chelsea’s plethora of youngsters, including new signings like Fofana, Badishile, and more.
Bruno Saltor was reported to have a hugely positive influence in the Brighton dressing room due to his spell as captain of the club. This led to him being a positive presence for Graham Potter. The same can be expected at Chelsea. Although he lacks the history that he had with Brighton, his personality and influence could make him the ideal fit for a short-term boost to the club’s fortunes.
Roberto di Matteo had a similar spell at Chelsea where a fresh voice at the training ground transformed the club in the short term. He led Chelsea to a Champions League title in remarkable circumstances before faltering in a full-time role.
This time, Chelsea would hope to replicate the short-term success of that spell and then look for a long-term proper appointment.
For Bruno, he has nothing to lose and everything to gain from this spell. His presence can transform the fortunes of the club, which is not as difficult since this Chelsea squad is way too good to be languishing in 11th. In that case, his stock as a potential head coach would rise.
However, even if he fails, it won’t be a disaster as this season is close to being a write-off and Bruno can go back to being a coach. Either way, the season that was crawling to the finish line just got a lot more interesting for Chelsea fans.