Chelsea sack manager Thomas Tuchel
Thomas Tuchel has been sacked by Chelsea following Tuesday’s Champions League defeat to Dinamo Zagreb
The German departs the club the day after their shock defeat in opening group game of this season’s group stage, an unexpected 1-0 defeat in Zagreb.
The Blues sit in sixth place in the Premier League table, with two defeats in their opening half a dozen league games, with Tuchel cutting a frustrated figure with some of the performances to date.
Tuchel led Chelsea to the Champions League title in 2021 and the Club World Cup crown in 2022, but has paid the price for an indifferent start to the new campaign.
New owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali have moved quickly all summer in imposing their authority at Chelsea, but this represents the boldest and most sweeping change yet.
Chelsea insisted they had made the change at the “right time” amid the club’s continued transition out of the Roman Abramovich era.
Chelsea also pledged to move quickly to appoint a replacement for Tuchel.
“Thomas will rightly have a place in Chelsea’s history after winning the Champions League, the Super Cup and Club World Cup in his time here,” read a Chelsea statement.
“As the new ownership group reaches 100 days since taking over the club, and as it continues its hard work to take the club forward, the new owners believe it is the right time to make this transition.
New owners Boehly and Eghbali paid a world-record sports franchise £4.25 billion to buy Chelsea from Russian billionaire Abramovich at the end of May.
The ambitious US magnates are in the process of overhauling every aspect of the Blues’ operation, and have acted quickly to unseat Tuchel.
The highly-regarded German coach has overseen three defeats in seven matches in the new campaign, after the Blues invested a one-window Premier League record £273million to revamp the squad.
The 49-year-old played a key role in Chelsea’s recruitment this summer, with Boehly acting as interim sporting director as well as chairman.
The former Paris St Germain coach also steered Chelsea through the mire of UK Government sanctions from March to May last season, amid the wider impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The Blues’ search for a new sporting director continues, with former Liverpool supremo Michael Edwards still the long-term target.
Now the Blues need a new manager at the Stamford Bridge helm, with Brighton boss Graham Potter and former PSG and Tottenham coach Mauricio Pochettino among the early candidates.
