Thomas Tuchel has described the past few months at Chelsea as one of the "most difficult" times in his managerial career.
Back in March of this year, former Blues owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK Government, and that put the immediate future of the club in serious doubt. The sanctions meant there were restrictions, including on how the players travelled to each game, as well as in the transfer market, with the club not allowed to conduct any transfer-related business.
This meant, going into the summer window, Chelsea were two steps behind their Premier League rivals – who were already working on deals. Whether or not they would have left anyway remains to be seen, but both Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger saw their Chelsea contracts expire, and the two defenders left the club when the window opened on free transfers.
