Chilwell among Only 4 Chelsea players who sent thanks to Potter following his sacking

Only four Chelsea players sent messages of support to Graham Potter after he was sacked by the club, just under seven months after he was appointed.

On Sunday night, the players at Stamford Bridge found out that their manager had been let go at the same time as the rest of us, via the club statement.

Only my good friend found out in more surprising circumstances, when I told him on the dancefloor during his wedding, I knew he'd want to know as soon as possible.

It's unlikely that the nuptials will last less time than the partnership between those players and Potter, with the loss to Aston Villa on Saturday evening just the former Brighton boss' 31st match in charge.

Certainly it never felt like the Englishman never got to grips with the task at hand in west London, not helped by arriving just after the summer transfer window and not looking in charge of the huge amount of signings in January.

Perhaps the players never really got on board with Potter, which certainly seemed the case with two of the squad even liking the post about him going.

And now it seems that no one was really behind the former manager, with only four of the players sending him a message of thanks in public.

Ben Chilwell, Marc Cucurella, Armando Broja and Noni Madueke were the squad members who posted on their Instagram stories.

Chilwell was the first to post, using a picture of him hugging Potter with the caption, "Thank you gaffer," alongside a blue heart,

Cucurella, who had played under the manager at Brighton, but was brought to Stamford Bridge by his predecessor Thomas Tuchel, posted a picture of the pair at training alongside the caption, "Thanks and best of luck in the future, gaffer."

The final pair of posters were perhaps more surprising, with Broja having rarely featured this season due to injuries, after impressing on loan at Southampton in the previous campaign.

The striker said, 'Thank you gaffer,' in his post on Insta, whilst Madueke added, "Will always be grateful to you coach. All the best truly!" despite having only joined in the winter, and with fans claiming recently Potter had been wasting the former PSV star.

Without a manager, the club are currently being led by former Brighton defender Bruno Saltor, who will remain as interim boss until they find a permanent replacement.

The club have a three man shortlist to become their 13th manager in 11 years, with Roberto De Zerbi, Mauricio Pochettino and Julian Nagelsmann all being looked at.