LONDON –
Chelsea’s new American owners are proving to be just as ruthless as the man they replaced.
Thomas Tuchel was fired from the Premier League club on Wednesday, just a month into the season and just days after Chelsea’s recently installed property – led by Los Angeles Dodgers part owner Todd Boehly – embarked on a Europe-wide spending spree of nearly $300million Dollar had completed in the transfer window.
Chelsea were known for supporting the “brutal and barbaric invasion” of Russian President Vladimir Putin during the 19-year tenure of Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch who was forced to sell the London club after being sanctioned by the British government enabled “ Ukraine.
Boehly was the face of the consortium that bought Chelsea for £2.5bn ($3.1bn) in May and, despite having little football experience, quickly made himself chairman as well as interim sporting director in charge of transfers.
Not only has he overseen a record surge in new players, Boehly has now decided that Tuchel – the manager who guided Chelsea to the Champions League title last year – is no longer the right person to lead the team in the new era.
The decision to sack Tuchel, who was coach for 20 months, came a day after Chelsea surprisingly lost 1-0 to Dinamo Zagreb in their first group game of the Champions League. Chelsea have also lost two of their first six games – to Leeds and Southampton – in an underwhelming start to the Premier League that has seen the team’s signings fail.
Tuchel has been a frustrated and prickly figure after games this season. In interviews following the Dinamo defeat, he said “everything is missing” when asked to summarize Chelsea’s performance and complained that his players “lacked the hunger”.
In a lively Premier League game against Tottenham, Tuchel – along with opposing manager Antonio Conte – was sent off and later fined after they faced off in a post-match scuffle for not letting go of his traditional grip by Tuchel handshake.
“As the new ownership group marks 100 days since taking over the club and continues their hard work to take the club forward, the new owners believe it is the right time for this transition,” Chelsea said in a statement, also said Tuchel will “rightfully have a place” in the club’s history.
After all, the 49-year-old German led Chelsea to the Champions League title less than six months after taking over as manager in January 2021, replacing Frank Lampard. Tuchel had just one full season at the top and Chelsea were eliminated by eventual champions Real Madrid in the quarter-finals of the Champions League before finishing third in the Premier League, 19 points behind champions Manchester City.
A big reason Chelsea faded in the second half of last season was the turmoil caused by the change in ownership and it was also a wild off-season at Stamford Bridge that saw dozens of players – including Cristiano Ronaldo – with one Moves to the London club have been linked as Boehly attempted to make his presence felt in the transfer market.
Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella arrived for hefty transfer fees before Chelsea spent £75m ($87m) on France centre-back Wesley Fofana in the final days of the transfer window, then brought in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Barcelona to close a close Gap in his forward options.
Aubameyang cited playing under Tuchel previously – at Borussia Dortmund – as a benefit of the move and was handed a debut against Dinamo. This was Tuchel’s last game in charge, possibly leaving Aubameyang’s long-term status uncertain.
That will depend on who will replace Tuchel. British media have already linked Graham Potter, currently manager of in-form Premier League club Brighton, and Mauricio Pochettino to the vacancy.
Potter has no real experience dealing with a group of star players, but is valued for his tactical cleverness and fun playstyle. Pochettino has experience overseeing a dressing room of egos – he recently coached a Paris Saint-Germain team with Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar – and has been unemployed since parting ways with the French champions in July.