Thomas Tuchel still expects a number of players to leave Chelsea this summer, as members of his squad consider departing Stamford Bridge with the World Cup in mind. The Blues boss previously spoke about the disruption of having a contingent of his squad looking to ply their trade elsewhere.
Chelsea have seen the likes of Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Matt Miazga depart this summer, while Romelu Lukaku returned to Inter Milan on loan. However, there plenty of players who have been linked with transfers including Kepa Arrizabalaga and Timo Werner. In addition, Billy Gilmour, Ethan Ampadu, Ross Barkley and Kenedy have all been left without squad numbers for the season ahead.
Tuchel knows due to the additions of Kalidou Koulibaly, Raheem Sterling, Marc Cucurella and Carney Chukwuemeka, that he must cut down his squad, but that has proved difficult as players attempt to see their role in 2022/23. The German coach believes the close proximity of the World Cup had had a significant impact, with players usually able to fight for their place across a whole season.
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Tuchel said: "You always have this, that players wait and check their role and the formation and check the situation, if they get the minutes, if they get the status if they get the position that they want and want to compete for or not.
"This is nothing new, but I said it because it is and was like this, that players are thinking of leaving, that players are checking their options and when I talk to these players the World Cup plays a huge role in this argumentation. I don’t want to blame them because it is one of the biggest things in football - maybe the biggest thing, to play for your country in a World Cup - but it’s a bit confusing that you have these talks in July for November and that even players reevaluate their situation for a tournament in November because normally it is at the end of the season and they are with you the whole season, so they have to fight. The situation is completely different.
"They have to fight in the club to be ready and now it’s getting a bit more tactical. Things will calm down always in September, so 1st September will be a good day because things are clear, you know your squad and of course, we have incomings so we cannot have like 30 players on the pitch. It needs to be a group that makes sense to prepare with focus for league matches, and we are on it."
There's an understanding that Chelsea have needed to rebuild their squad to a degree this summer but with more than £150 million spent on the first team squad, some semblance of pressure is to be expected. Tuchel can feel the ambition of the club's new owners and that means the Blues' competitive character will still emerge. The 48-year-old believes Todd Boehly and company have patience in their project, however.
He said: “Of course, that’s why I said I don’t want to lower the expectations artificially because you never know in any direction, so why open this up now - especially for us now, we are still in this delay, we are still in transition. From our owners, I feel huge ambition. For everything they want to compete, they will do everything to keep this club a great club, as a very competitive club at the highest level. They want to reach finals, they want to win titles, this is very clear and this is what we signed up for anyway at Chelsea - nothing has changed, they want it as soon as possible, we want it as soon as possible but right now for this situation, it makes no sense to put this pressure on us, let's see until the transfer period is finished, let’s see where we are in September, let’s so how we can grow into the season, then I can assure you we have a competitive character.
“Yes 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. They are in the middle of it so they understand it.”
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