Thomas Tuchel has admitted that Chelsea's change of ownership is adding to the pressure of replacing the likes of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen. The duo are set to depart Stamford Bridge this summer when their contracts expire at the end of the season, with the German defender having confirmed his intention to leave the club.
The Blues are unable to even offer their stars new contracts under the terms of their special operating licence placed upon Chelsea in the aftermath of Roman Abramovich being added to the UK Government's sanction list.
The club await their new owners being chosen, with three groups remaining in contention: Todd Boehly's consortium, the group led by Martinho Broughton and a third collection headed by Stephen Pagliuca.
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The process appears to be coming to a close, with final pitches expected from each ahead of Raine Group communicating a final decision. However, that leaves Chelsea still unable to progress and prepare with their transfer business, putting Tuchel behind where the club would usually be at this stage.
The German coach illustrated this: "We are never fully sure, but we have some targets, and we will for sure have contacted some players and found out about their situations. Now our hands are tied, we can still have talks inside the building, but we cannot act."
Tuchel hopes to be positive about how the club can develop over the summer and refuses to 'write off' the window, given it is still only April. The 48-year-old even highlighted that he is 'committed and I am looking forward to it, and I am passionate about, and as soon as we can act we will try to act'. However, he conceded losing two players who have figured in his plans so prominently does complicate matters.
He said: "I would be less concerned if we had the same ownership and we could rely on our structure. We are not concerned, but we are aware of the danger that the situation is a bit more complex. It can be complex enough if we lose a player like Toni and maybe Andreas, the kind of quality that both of them have. It is demanding enough nowadays in football to lose two key players for free. It can be demanding enough, even if everything else stays in place. So, with this in question, it can be a very demanding summer, and I don't know if the 'surgery' is the right term for it, but I just want to be positive about it."
Chelsea's situation provides an additional challenge to reducing the gap Liverpool and Manchester City have created in the Premier League. While the Blues are forced to be stagnant, Europe's elite sides can already get their plans for the window underway, with the Reds on their way to signing Fabio Carvalho and Pep Guardiola's team believed to be on their way to signing Erlin Haaland. It will be a stiff task for the Blues, with Tuchel knowing that the foundation provided by Marina Granovskaia and Petr Cech could look different in the coming months. He hopes that the Blues keep their competitive spirit.
He added: "It will not be easy. We want to compete, we could not compete over the long run, we could compete in periods, in direct matches. We struggled. As you know, I was so happy with the structure the club provides and the mentality Chelsea provides because that was, for me, the foundation to strongly believe we could keep on pushing. With this now being questioned, it is getting more demanding, not difficult because I don't know what's coming, so let's see, but I hope we can keep the mentality here in the building. The competitive mentality that was installed over the last decade, and hopefully we can find out way through."
In losing Rudiger, Tuchel is losing his most faithful charge. The former Roma ace has played 45 times this season. The Blues boss was philosophical over his charge's departure and explained how the 29-year-old broke the news.
Tuchel said: "When Tony knocks at your door one hour before training, it is not a good sign. Normally he does not knock and just grabs you in between if he wants to tell you something. He knocks before training, and everybody was like 'oh no, come on, it's not looking good', and we had a brief conversation.
"First of all, I appreciated that he came and told me as one of the first. That shows me we have a relationship where we end things directly and honestly and are not afraid to tell each other what we think. Toni is not the guy you need to take out to 10 dinners and 12 coffees to talk into to something. He has strong opinions that is part of his personality. He demands clarity and honesty, and trust it's very low maintenance with him. I was disappointed, but not on a personal level. It is his right to figure out what opportunities he had it is his right to change a club. I did not like it, he knows we do not like it, but I have big players injuries, key players they get injured for many weeks, and life does not stop.
"I would have liked him to stay, and he would have been a key figure, and these things happen, and we are on good terms, and now he needs to finish on the same level he started."
