Thomas Tuchel has urged co-owner Todd Boehly to “speed things up” as Chelsea hunt for the “couple more” additions that are needed at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea kick-off their Premier League season away at Everton on August 6. Tuchel is aware he has less than three weeks to integrate his new players into the squad. And he wants to see some progress.
Boehly, who is acting as the club’s co-owner, chairman and sporting director has landed Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly. But with the likes of Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger, Saul Niguez and Romelu Lukaku all departing, Tuchel needs numbers.
Chelsea are understood to be chasing Jules Kounde and according to AS, they have submitted the first formal bid of €55m to Sevilla.
The Blues are also believed to be looking at PSG’s Presnel Kimpembe in addition to Kounde. However, L’Equipe suggest Kimpembe is looking likely to stay in Paris.
Asked how many more players he would like to bring in, Tuchel said: “I have a figure. I think we need a couple more players in to improve the squad.
“We were third last season. We cannot discuss the reason forever but there was a gap between us Manchester City and Liverpool. I think in general if you want to keep your position if you want to fight for the same position you need to improve. You cannot stand still.
“If you stand still other teams will overtake you. Given the position that we even lost players its common sense that we need to bring new quality to the team to maintain our level. Not even speaking about improving our level, so this is the situation where we are right now.
“It’s the dream of any manager that you find players in your own league, that can adapt very quickly. But it’s an individual process. Of course, we see that Raheem knows many players from the national team. And he is very familiar with the habits in English clubs. This is nice to see.”
Tuchel is happy that former Napoli centre-back Koulibaly will settle in quickly with the help of some close friends at the Bridge. But the German coach has stressed that time is running out as he looks to get his new players bedded in.
“For Kalidou, it’s a big help we have some French guys, that we have Edou (Mendy), his team-mate from the national team, and Jorgi who is a big help from Napoli. It makes the process of integration faster because this is huge and both of them should be huge players for us. This is why we need to speed things up,” added Tuchel at a press conference, as cited by FootballLondon.
Tuchel still has a squad packed with attacking talent and Sterling will only complement that.
Tuchel planning rotation
There have been suggestions that Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech will move on, but Tuchel has plenty of options.
Mason Mount, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Kai Havertz and Christian Pulisic all remain. And the Blues boss was asked how he will keep them all happy.
“It will be a bit easier this season because we have five changes. And it’s very likely we will use most of the changes for offensive players. Because they are the positions that normally have a huge impact and where the intensity is very high,” said Tuchel.
“Normally you don’t change too much in the back, your defence, or in central midfield. This can play a huge role in giving minutes. On the other hand, of course, we are also keen to find more or less a starting line-up and right the mixture that is good together and provides goals and assists, and danger for the opponent.
“So it’s a mix between both of it. And at the moment we have a lot of offensive players. And we need to try to find spaces and positions and a role, because everyone needs a role to feel confident. Then the players can be the best versions of themselves.”
