After Potter and Cucurella, Sanchez should be Boehly’s next buy from Brighton

When Chelsea are inevitably linked with more Brighton stars, it should be Robert Sanchez in Todd Boehly’s sights as the next £50m-plus Seagull.

Chelsea appointed Graham Potter on Thursday afternoon. Which, by our reckoning, means that by the weekend the Blues will have been linked with a host of Brighton players.

It is an inevitable cycle when a manager swaps one club for another, even though the transfer window remains closed for over three and a half more months. The fact that Brighton have a number of players all apparently capable of stepping up to Champions League level makes it all the more certain that Chelsea will feature in the gossip columns connected with a swathe of Seagulls.

Moises Caicedo is the first, most obvious name that springs to mind, especially while Chelsea look short of a dominant midfielder. The Ecuadorian only played 14 Premier League games for Potter but made such an impression that Big Six clubs including Liverpool were ready to give Brighton a ten-fold return on a £4.5million investment made in 2021.

Alexis Mac Allister and Leandro Trossard could easily find themselves mentioned as Chelsea targets to follow in Potter and Marc Cucurella’s footsteps. But if Potter is planning to pillage his former club, then it should be Robert Sanchez at the top of his wish-list.

The six-feet-five-inch keeper has been a huge part of Potter’s success at Brighton – and Potter has been instrumental in Sanchez’s ascension from League Two to the Spain national team. The manager took the decision to drop the Seagulls’ established No.1 Mat Ryan in late 2020 to give Sanchez the opportunity he earned by paying his dues at Forest Green Rovers and Rochdale.

Potter to Chelsea is overdue Big Six justice for Steve Bruce, Garry Monk and Nigel Pearson

Since then, Sanchez hasn’t looked back. The 24-year-old has established himself as one of the Premier League’s best stoppers, one who Potter believes “has everything you need to play at every level”. Luis Enrique, evidently, agrees, much to David De Gea’s cost.

Sanchez has no obvious flaws. He makes mistakes, as all keepers do, but more often than not they come as a result of his proactive style and willingness to play off his line, sweeping up behind a high back three or four or plucking crosses from the air. Last season, no keeper stopped a higher percentage of the deliveries sent into his box.

For Potter, as for most modern coaches, his goalkeeper plays a leading role in his…