DOWN TO BUSINESS
Tuchel buoyed by Blues’ transfer window activity
THOMAS TUCHEL admits that it has been a “turbulent” summer at Chelsea — but their transfer business has calmed him.
Chelsea confirmed Marc Cucurella as their latest signing with the €70m-plus deal setting a new record for Brighton and the Spain left-back joins other big-money recruits in Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly.
Sky pundit Gary Neville has accused Chelsea’s new owner Todd Boehly of being “panicky” in the transfer market and playing at “Football Manager” as their business has resembled a supermarket sweep.
Frantic
But after a frantic few months, including a chaotic pre-season in the United States and change of ownership at Stamford Bridge, Tuchel insists Chelsea are ready for the new season even if he was anxious to play down expectations.
Chelsea boss Tuchel said: “It was quite turbulent here, I have to say. But seeing that we are succeeding in the market also calmed me down.
“The strength of Chelsea is calmness from inside and also outside, and we need to reach that status again.
“Panicking? No. I would describe it as super hard working, learning on the job, too.
New ownership, stepping in the transfer market is one of the toughest things you can do.
“I have nothing but the biggest respect and compliments for both Todd and Behdad Eghbali. I don’t know when they sleep, maybe they never sleep.
“We tried to refocus completely this week on Everton and that’s the right approach because I felt the team refocus, it’s calmed everybody down and I feel we are ready to go to compete with Everton for the win.”
Cucurella will compete with Ben Chilwell in the left wing back role while Sterling will give them a new edge in attack and Koulibaly brings experience and quality in defence.
That might leave Chelsea fans — who were used to being serial winners under former owner Roman Abramovich — believing they will be title contenders this season. But Tuchel refused to get carried away.
He said: “I struggle a little bit to keep our ambitions down. I don’t want to lower our ambitions. I struggle also a little bit to put the pressure on us and say yes we can (close the gap) because I believe we are a team in transition still.
“From our owners, I feel huge ambition. They want to compete for everything, they will do everything to keep this club as a very competitive club.
“They want to reach finals, to win titles, this is very clear and this is what we signed up for at Chelsea. They want it as soon as possible, we want it as soon as possible.
Pressure
“But right now, it makes no sense to put this pressure on us. Let’s see where we are in September.
“But they have patience, for them it is a long-term project. They want to build a huge club, they want to build a huge team and they understand the situation very well.”
EVERTON are set to beat West Ham to the signing of midfielder Amadou Onana.
The Toffees have agreed a fee of €40m with Lille and are also close to bringing Idrissa Gueye back from Paris St Germain.
Keen
Boss Frank Lampard has been keen to strengthen in midfield. The Hammers had agreed a fee of around €39.5m with the French club but failed to settle terms with Onana.
Gueye left the Toffees in 2019 to join PSG but is now eager to return to Goodison Park.