Chelsea have spent a record £266m in one window to bring in Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella, Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Carney Chukwuemeka and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang among others. That increased the pressure on Tuchel but not all were his signings and there were other instances of the ownership attempting to foist players on him.
One example was the case of Anthony Gordon, who Tuchel did not want. Boehly’s data analysts had pushed for the Everton midfielder after being impressed by some of his performance metrics. Tuchel came to feel he had too many players to accommodate and not enough he could count on.
Boehly learned that some senior players were unhappy with Tuchel’s tactics and is keen to make his own appointment. Chelsea used three formations in Zagreb, one of which included using Sterling in central midfield.
The squad were surprised to be given time off after the 3-0 defeat at Leeds in August and some wondered whether he would have taken the same approach in the early part of his reign.
“On behalf of everyone at Chelsea FC, the club would like to place on record its gratitude to Thomas and his staff for all their efforts during their time with the club,” a statement said.
“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.
“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.
“Chelsea’s coaching staff will take charge of the team for training and the preparation of our upcoming matches as the club moves swiftly to appoint a new head coach.”
The sacking took place face-to-face with the owners on Wednesday morning at the Cobham training ground and Tuchel’s three coaches – Arno Michels, Zsolt Löw and Benjamin Weber – are expected to depart.
Tuchel has been extremely outspoken about the squad’s readiness to compete, beginning with his explosive remarks after the 4-0 defeat by Arsenal on the club’s US tour.
The owners began to see the same complaints from him and the same excuses but no solutions, with Zagreb representing the nadir. “At the moment, everything is missing,” he said on Tuesday night. The owners have felt his comments affected the players’ confidence.
Tuchel felt isolated after the departures of his close allies Marina Granovskaia, a director, and Petr Cech, the technical and performance adviser.
Tuchel took over from Frank Lampard in January 2021 and won the Champions League four months later. An anticipated Premier League title challenge the following season failed to materialise, with Romelu Lukaku’s club record arrival not bringing the desired impact, but the campaign was significantly complicated by the situation surrounding Roman Abramovich’s ownership. Tuchel led the team to the FA Cup and Carabao Cup finals but lost both to Liverpool on penalties.
Tuchel has struggled to contain his emotions in recent weeks, being sent off against Tottenham and deemed “largely culpable” for his clash with Antonio Conte, and shown a yellow card in Zagreb.
Chelsea are five points off the top of the Premier League and three points off fourth spot.
