Chelsea Sack Thomas Tuchel, Eye Zinedine Zidane, Graham Potter
Chelsea turn their attention to Zinedine Zidane as they announce the sack of Head Coach Thomas Tuchel hours after embarrassing Champions League opener defeat to Dinamo Zagreb.
The London outfit ended Tuchel’s one-year and seven months reign as manager at Stamford Bridge on Sunday following a run of unconvincing wins and humiliating displays.
Tuesday’s defeat at the hands of Champions League minnows, Dinamo Zagreb, appeared to be the final straw for the new-look Chelsea board, who had stuck by Tuchel heavily in the transfer window, and in recent weeks despite humbling defeats to Leeds and Southampton.
“On behalf of everyone at Chelsea FC, the Club would like to place on record its gratitude to Thomas and his staff for all their efforts during their time with the Club. Thomas will rightly have a place in Chelsea’s history after winning the Champions League, the Super Cup, and Club World Cup in his time here.”
“As the new ownership group reaches 100 days since taking over the Club, and as it continues its hard work to take the club forward, the new owners believe it is the right time to make this transition.”
“Chelsea’s coaching staff will take charge of the team for training and the preparation of our upcoming matches as the Club moves swiftly to appoint a new head coach. There will be no further comment until a new head coach appointment is made.” – the club said in an official statement on their website.
The German exits Chelsea after 100 games at the club recording 60 wins, 24 draws, and 16 losses while also leading the blues to three trophies within that period. Chelsea’s new owner, Todd Boehly, also spent over £ 300 million on new signings in the recently concluded transfer window as they looked to build on their abysmal end to the previous season.
Thomas Tuchel, however, seemed unable to assemble his expensive squad with a mix of fresh and experienced talents together eventually falling to a run of three defeats in the opening seven games of the season which put him under immense pressure and eventually led to his sack.
Chelsea Commence Complacent Tuchel’s Replacement
Injuries to the senior midfielder, Ngolo Kante and his misfiring attackers helped pile more misery on his team and he bemoaned his team’s lack of confidence and lackluster display severally in his post-match conferences.
“This is normally the area that I thought we would have five players that could all play for us and have Carney [Chukwuemeka] on top as an option as a young player.
The headache before the season was whether we had too many players there but it comes to the fifth game and maybe we only have two left with experience in this position and Kova from the bench because he is not ready to play full matches at Premier League level as he only had a week after training after his injury.
‘It’s a strange situation and a situation we don’t like. I don’t know why we are in this situation. It’s like this and we will have something to think about [over the team selection], or maybe not because it’s so obvious who we have left.”- Tuchel said.
The support for Thomas Tuchel faded as the German was dragged severally by the fans for favoritism and a blind belief in several out-of-form stars within the squad.
Chelsea would, however, return to the market in search of another top manager to turn things around at the bring with Zinedine Zidane, who won three Champions League titles, the bookmakers’ favorite to succeed Tuchel alongside Brighton manager Graham Potters and former Paris Saint Germain boss Mauricio Pochettino in contention to take charge.
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