Thomas Tuchel's sacking earlier this month would have come as a shock to many members of the Chelsea squad. Tuchel was a popular figure and the likes of Reece James and Ben Chilwell took to social media following his sacking to thank the German head coach.
Tuchel's departure also would have come as a huge surprise to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who joined Chelsea just five days before the 49-year-old was told his time at Stamford Bridge was up.
Aubameyang has thrived under Tuchel's management during their time together at Borussia Dortmund, and his influence was a major reason as to why the Gabon international joined the club from Barcelona.
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Working under a Champions League winning manager in Tuchel was also a huge factor in midfielder Denis Zakaria joining the club. Another deadline day addition, the Switzerland international signed from Juventus on a season-long loan. Not helped by games against Fulham and Liverpool being postponed, he is still waiting to make his Chelsea debut.
Zakaria was an unused substitute in Graham Potter's first game in charge of the Blues, which was a 1-1 draw against RB Salzburg. It remains to be seen how much the loanee features under Potter, but Zakaria has revealed a major factor behind him making the move to west London was to work under Tuchel.
"I did not want to leave Juventus," Zakaria told Blick. "It was played in the last six hours [of deadline day]. There was the Chelsea offer that came on the table. It was then necessary to finalise the contracts and pass the medical examination from Turin before preparing my suitcases.
"I wanted to work with Thomas Tuchel. His presence is one of the reasons why I accepted this loan at Chelsea."
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