Thomas must peel off Jurgen the poster boy

THOMAS TUCHEL has vowed to chip away at compatriot Jurgen Klopp’s reputation in a bid to fulfil his orders to compete for the biggest trophies with Chelsea.

Tuchel was left under no illusions about the expectations that would be on him at his new club when Blues director Marina Granovskaia handed him the reins.

That means targeting the poster boy of German football managers (right, top), in whose footsteps he followed at Borussia Dortmund and who, like Tuchel, got his big break at Mainz.

“It’s hard to be as successful but we will try hard,” said Tuchel. “Jurgen is one of the very best coaches, one of the most fascinating personalities as a coach.

“I’m not sure I should set my goal for myself, because he is Jurgen and he has found his place to be, like he did with

Dortmund. People love him, fans love him, his team loves him and he has the results for it.

“But let’s try to make things a bit more complicated for him.

“We start now, to close the gap, take away a bit of his points and his reputation, with all respect and friendship, of course.”

Granovskaia (below) turned to Tuchel — who was sacked by Paris Saint-Germain in December, four months after leading them to their first Champions League final — after axing club legend Frank

Lampard last week.

Tuchel added: “She told me clearly that, if you sign for Chelsea, you need to definitely compete for trophies.

“This club is about trophies and this club is about competing, and the two most difficult competitions you compete in are the Premier League and Champions League.

“But there is no secret, if I play with Dortmund, with PSG, with Chelsea in the Champions League, I don’t play to reach the quarter-final.

“I play a quarter-final to reach the semi-final, I play a semi-final to reach a final and, when I am in the final, I play to win. On this level, nobody steps into any competition to be second. There were even managers who won titles and got sacked. One is sitting right now in front of you. What everyone is looking for is a nice guy, a hard guy, a trophywinning guy, a good-looking guy, a funny guy.

“That does not exist. At some point I hope I am the guy who can be the characteristics for an era, a certain period in this club.”

PSG, like Chelsea, is a political club and after three months there he asked: ‘Am I a manager or am I a politician, a minister for sport?’ Asked if he’d be asking the same here, Tuchel said: “I hope not because I am as far away from being a politician as a maths teacher, and I was horrible at maths.

The fact Tuchel has signed only an 18-month deal raised eyebrows.

He added: “At first, it was a concern, a little bit like, ‘Oh, why 18 months?’

“After one minute, I thought: ‘What does it change if they gave me four-and-a-half years and put in a clause that, when they sack me, they don’t pay me?’

“I decided to be brave enough to take this adventure because it was clear I don’t want to miss the chance. It’s my character to believe more in the chances than the risks.”