Chelsea’s new American owners are proving as ruthless as the man they replaced.
Thomas Tuchel was sacked by the Premier League club on Wednesday, just a month into the season and just days after Chelsea’s newly installed ownership – led by Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly – completed a hefty spending spree. European of nearly 300 million dollars. transfer window.
Chelsea were notorious for regularly changing managers in the 19-year tenure of Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch who had to sell the London club after being sanctioned by the British government for what it called his “brutal and barbaric takeover” of Russian President Vladimir Putin. ” of Ukraine.
Boehly was the face of the consortium that bought Chelsea for 2.5 billion pounds ($3.1 billion) in May and, despite having little football experience, quickly became chairman as well as interim sporting director in charge of transfers.
Not only has he overseen a record-breaking surge of 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 man to lead the team into the new era.
The decision to sack Tuchel, who had been in charge for 20 months, came a day after Chelsea surprisingly lost to Dinamo Zagreb 1-0 in their first Champions League group game. Chelsea have also lost two of their opening six games – to Leeds and Southampton – in a poor start to the Premier League that has seen the squad’s new signings fail.
Tuchel has been a frustrated and prickly figure after games this season. In interviews after the defeat to Dinamo, he said “everything is missing” when asked to sum up Chelsea’s performance and complained that his players “lacked hunger”.
In a tense Premier League match against Tottenham, Tuchel was sent off – along with rival manager Antonio Conte – and later fined after they went head-to-head in a post-match brawl because Tuchel failed to leave from his control in the traditional game. handshake.
“As the new ownership group completes 100 days since taking over the club, and as they continue their hard work to take the club forward, the new owners believe the time is right to make this transition,” said Chelsea in a statement, which. also said Tuchel will “rightfully have a place” in the club’s history.
After all, the 49-year-old German guided Chelsea to the Champions League title less than six months after taking over in January 2021 as Frank Lampard’s replacement. Tuchel had just one full season in charge and that saw Chelsea knocked out in the Champions League quarter-finals – to eventual champions Real Madrid – before finishing third in the Premier League, 19 points behind champions Manchester City.
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A big reason why Chelsea faded in the second half of last season was the turbulence caused by the change of ownership and it was also a remarkable season at Stamford Bridge, with dozens of players – including Cristiano Ronaldo – linked with a move to London. . club like Boehly tried to make his presence felt in the transfer market.
Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella arrived for big fees, before in the final days of the transfer window Chelsea spent £75m ($87m) on French centre-back Wesley Fofana and then brought in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Barcelona . a gap in the striker’s options.
Aubameyang cited playing under Tuchel before – at Borussia Dortmund – as a benefit of the move and was handed a debut against Dinamo. This turned out to be Tuchel’s last game in charge, perhaps leaving Aubameyang’s long-term status uncertain.
It will depend on who comes in to replace Tuchel. British media have already linked Graham Potter, currently manager of in-form Premier League club Brighton, and Mauricio Pochettino with the vacancy.
Potter has no real experience handling a squad of star players, but is highly regarded for his tactical acumen and entertaining style of play. Pochettino has experience overseeing dressing room egos – he most recently coached a Paris Saint-Germain side that featured Kylian Mbapp?, Lionel Messi and Neymar – and has been out of work since parting ways with the French champions in July .
