Reports suggest that Todd Boehly came across Graham Potter when he was in negotiations to sign Nathan Ake earlier this summer.
According to BBC Sport, the pair are represented by the same agency, and the American was alerted and began to like what he heard about the former Brighton manager.
The Blues established Ake as an early target to strengthen their defence this summer, with them taking a while to make the first signing to replace the outgoing Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen.
A reunion with the Dutchman looked on the cards at one point, with the club reportedly keen on getting the deal done at the same time as their raid for Raheem Sterling.
However, a difference in opinion regarding money between the two clubs eventually saw the Blues look elsewhere, and they strengthened their backline sporadically throughout the remainder of the window.
Boehly found Potter through Ake
Missing out on Ake may have been a stroke of good luck for the Blues, with them eventually ending up with the strong options of Kalidou Koulibaly, Wesley Fofana and Marc Cucurella.
Despite this, BBC suggests there were positives to come from the failed negotiations, with Boehly stumbling across the man who turned into Chelsea’s new manager.
In the few days since being officially hired as the new head coach at Stamford Bridge, Potter will have been working hard in preparation for his first game in charge of the club tonight, with the fixture just so being his first experience of Champions League football too.
The fixture against RB Salzburg holds a lot more importance than Chelsea will have originally hoped, following their humbling 1-0 defeat last week to Dinamo Zagreb.
The loss turned out to be Tuchel’s last game in charge of the club, although it has been claimed multiple times that the result didn’t come into the owner’s thinking when making their decision.