Thomas Tuchel could barely hide his delight following Chelsea's capture of Raheem Sterling in a £47.5million deal - and the Stamford Bridge chief outlined that the England star will be the Blues' new main man.
Sterling became the first signing of the Todd Boehly era when he put pen-to-paper on a lucrative five-year contract earlier this week. The 27-year-old had emerged as the Blues' top summer target after it became clear that Manchester City would not prevent Sterling from leaving the Etihad Stadium.
Despite the fact that Sterling has evolved into one of the Premier League's most effective attacking players since his 2015 switch to Manchester, the winger was not immune from Pep Guardiola's rotation policy. Sterling failed to start in either of City's Champions League semi-final clashes against Real Madrid and was also on the bench for the Premier League title decider against Aston Villa back in May.
With just one year remaining on his City deal, Sterling's desire to play a pivotal role during his peak years was the driving force behind his desire to quit the reigning Premier League champions. And Tuchel has already made it clear that Sterling will have a starring role in Chelsea's new-look attack.
When quizzed on Sterling's arrival, Tuchel told BBC Sport: "It was a huge priority. There cannot be a bigger priority because [signing Sterling] was the priority. Hopefully he shapes our team by just being who he is. He will be a huge asset for us."
Sterling arrives in the capital with a winning pedigree. The former Liverpool man is a four-time Premier League champion and has proven his quality time and time again in the top-flight. Despite starting just 23 league games for City last year, Sterling still managed to net more goals than any Chelsea player.
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The Blues recently gave Romelu Lukaku the green light to return to Inter Milan on loan - just 12 months after they shelled out £97.5m to bring the Belgian striker back to Stamford Bridge in a club-record deal. And with the jury still out on Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic after an underwhelming campaign, Tuchel is banking on Sterling to provide the clinical touch that was missing all too often last year.
The Chelsea chief added: "For me, he is a huge player, with a huge influence in the last years in English football and he's in a perfect age to now take responsibility around young players that we have and be an example.
"Getting what he delivered for years given his age, his hunger for responsibility, and his style of play and his amount of intensity is outstanding. It is the benchmark in the Premier League and is exactly what we need."
