West Ham chairman David Sullivan decided to replace Graham Potter with Nuno Espirito Santo immediately due to the concerns that the Portuguese coach could be snapped up by another team, according to Graeme Bailey.

Speaking to TBRFootball, Bailey said that an agreement had already been reached with the former Nottingham Forest boss, so Sullivan felt he had to make a decision straight away:

“I am told David Sullivan made his decision on Friday having come back from Spain. He decided that Nuno was the right man for the role, so why wait?”

“Terms were already agreed in principle and now Nuno has agreed to take the job – West Ham believe that they had to move for Nuno now before he was snapped up by another club, and there was already interest.”

Will Nuno be in the dugout for the Everton game?

At the time of writing, West Ham have not formally announced their replacement for Potter, but multiple sources claim that the Hammers will make a decision on his successor imminently.

As things stand, Nuno is expected to be in charge for Monday night’s game at Hill Dickinson Stadium.

West Ham have shown the door to Potter’s backroom staff

It will be a complete clean slate for the next manager. In addition to confirming the manager’s departure, the club also revealed that assistant coach Bruno Saltor, first team coaches Billy Reid and Narcis Pelach, and two goalkeeping coaches, Casper Ankergren and Linus Kandolin, have left the London Stadium.

It is believed that head of recruitment, Kyle Macaulay, will follow Potter out the door too – although that hasn’t been officially announced at this moment in time. Nuno is likely to take control of transfers and use his connections with agent Nuno Mendes.

Read more about the West Ham First Team Squad for 2025/26 here