Graham Potter has reject­ed the chance to return to management with French club, Lyon, five months after his departure from Chelsea.

Potter was sacked by Chelsea in April after less than seven months in charge, with his ill-fated spell at Stamford Bridge following a highly successful three-year stint at Brighton. The 48-year-old has been out of work since leaving Chelsea and was approached by Lyon’s American owner, John Textor, to potential­ly take over at the Ligue 1 club.

Current boss, Laurent Blanc, is under huge pressure, with Lyon currently at the bottom of the league after picking up just one point from their first

four games and he is expected to be axed following their 4-1 loss to Paris Saint-Germain last weekend.

And the former Manchester United defender has admitted Lyon need to sack him if they want to improve their form. Speaking after another 4-1 defeat to Montpellier in Lyon’s first home game of the season, Blanc was asked what the club could do to change their for­tunes and simply replied: “Change the manager”.

It now appears as though Blanc’s sacking is imminent, with the Daily Mail reporting that Potter was offered the chance to replace him. The report states that Potter ‘politely declined’ the offer as he ‘does not feel it is the right time to return to management’.

It adds that he was ‘intrigued by the challenge to coach abroad again’, having enjoyed great success at Swedish club,Oster­sunds, who he guided to three promotions and a memorable Europa League victory over Arsenal. However, the 48-year-old is said to be ‘waiting for the right challenge’ and Lyon will now have to turn their attention elsewhere, with Reims boss Will Still a potential option.

Following Lyon’s loss to PSG, the players were confront­ed by the ‘Bad Gones’ ultras. Af­ter the game, the players stood in front of the main stand as one of the group’s leaders gave them a dressing down. —MIRROR

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