Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel admits the chaotic nature of the transfer market has proved confusing and distracting this summer – and he accepts the Blues' business is unlikely to be over with three-and-a-half weeks of the window remaining.
Following the takeover of the club by the U.S. billionaire Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, Tuchel was handed greater responsibility over first-team signings. It's not something the German wants long-term yet he felt dutybound to try to guide Chelsea through the early weeks of the new ownership.
That has resulted in constant contact between Tuchel, Boehly and fellow co-owner Behdad Eghbali over the past two months as they attempt to construct a squad capable of competing in the Premier League and in Europe. So far, Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Carney Chukwemeka and Marc Cucarella have arrived. And further signings are expected before the window closes.
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Chelsea's approach to transfers has appeared somewhat scattergun this summer and Tuchel says it has not always been easy to remain calm in the whirlwind nature of the transfer window. He explained. "We agreed to a small number of names very early to try to sign. But the number of names got a bit bigger, the number of names we discussed was endless.
"It never stops and was sometimes a bit confusing and distracting but, in the end, we managed to focus back on the names we mentioned in the first place to stay calm, not to get distracted because opportunities come up. Sometimes you think an opportunity comes, but it’s not. Somebody is using us to get a better contract somewhere else.
“It was quite turbulent here, I have to say. Our training camp was full of news, then no news, then new news, then the newest news, a change of plans, and finding my role in this. But what was very obvious from the beginning – and I was proved right – was Todd and Behdad wanted to do things right for Chelsea and for this team.
"They're very ambitious, they are hard, hard-working, and they demand it from everybody. That was not a problem but it was sometimes turbulent, sometimes distracting, and not 100% calm."
So what approach did Tuchel take to cancel out the transfer-market noise? "You can get lost in all the names and opportunities and suddenly you end up playing a 2-7-1 or whatever. So you need to refocus, have a cold shower and calm down – or I have to.
"Then you go, ‘ok, let’s go back where we needed. What do we need for the squad and what kind of personality and what kind of talent do we need?’ This is how it more or less goes."
The German added: “Seeing us succeeding in the market also calmed me down – there’s been give and take for everybody. The strength of Chelsea is calmness from inside and also outside and we need to reach that status again."
Given the transfer market inexperience of Boehly, who is acting as interim sporting director, it's perhaps no surprise Chelsea haven't landed every player targeted this summer. Matthijs de Ligt opted to leave Juventus for Bayern Munich while Raphinha decided to sign for Barcelona despite the Blues having agreed fees with Leeds United.
A move for Jules Kounde also didn't come to fruition. Chelsea agreed a fee with Sevilla for the centre-back but then hesitated on following through. That enabled Barcelona to once again beat the Blues to a signing.
“That Azpi (Cesar Azpilicueta) stayed – in actually the best position for Jules Kounde – these talks had an effect," Tuchel explained when asked why Kounde didn't arrive.
"It’s also the position of Trevoh Chalobah if we play in a back three. Marc can play in a back three on the left, Kalidou can play on the left of a three. Thiago Silva, who is not Benjamin Button and not getting younger, unfortunately, even though sometimes it seems like it.
“Maybe we bring one more player, maybe not. Still, we have Malang Sarr with us and Ethan Ampadu still with us. We have options but at the same time, we know how many games are coming. So let's see if we can still maybe sign a player."
One of the biggest decisions taken by Chelsea's new ownership group this summer was to sanction the departure of club-record signing Romelu Lukaku. Brought in for £97.5million from Inter Milan twelve months ago, the Belgian was allowed to return to the Serie A side on loan.
That has left the No.9 shirt at Chelsea vacant once more – and Tuchel admits that is not by design in anticipation of a new forward arriving. “It’s cursed, it’s cursed, people tell me it’s cursed," the German said with a smile. "It’s not the case that we leave it open for tactical reasons, for some players in the pipeline that come in and naturally take it.
“There was not a big demand for number nine when players sometimes want to change numbers. Surprisingly, nobody wants to touch it. Everybody who is here longer than me tells me, ‘ah, you know, he had the nine and he did not score and he had the nine and did also not score’.
"So we now we have a moment where nobody wants to touch the number nine. I’m also superstitious, I can understand why players maybe don’t touch it and have other preferences."
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