Chelsea surprised the majority of the football world on Wednesday morning when they confirmed they have parted ways with former manager Thomas Tuchel.
The German coach oversaw the second Champions League triumph in the club’s history last year, while guiding them to the FA Cup and Carabao Cup finals the following season. However, that effort clearly wasn’t enough as new owner Todd Boehly has swung his axe so early into the new campaign.
After overseeing the most expensive summer transfer window in history, Tuchel is gone before he really had the chance to implement his philosophy on the new recruits. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made it clear Tuchel’s presence was a large factor in his decision to join, but their link up lasted just 59 minutes with the forward’s debut appearance against Dinamo Zagreb.
Brighton boss Graham Potter is the favourite to succeed Tuchel, with the Seagulls manager meeting with Boehly on Wednesday afternoon to discuss a potential deal.
Mirror Football has collated all the headlines and main talking points emerging from Stamford Bridge.
Tuchel's Ronaldo rejection
Thomas Tuchel's decision to go against the wishes of Chelsea's new owner Todd Boehly and not sign Cristiano Ronaldo this summer could have played a part in the club's decision to relieve him of his duties.
The German coach was dismissed from his post as Blues boss on Wednesday morning despite winning the Champions League for just the second time in Chelsea's history last year before reaching both the Carabao and FA Cup final the following season.
It has since emerged that at least some of the friction between manager and owner stemmed from the fact Boehly was desperate to sign Ronaldo, but Tuchel claimed the Portugal international would "destroy the spirit of the dressing room".
Read the full story HERE .
Tuchel’s staggering pay-off
While getting the boot from the Stamford Bridge hot-seat is hardly good news, Tuchel can take some comfort in the fact he has an eye-watering pay-off on the way.
The former Paris Saint-Germain coach is in line to pocket a cool £13million for the money he would have eventually earned had he seen out the rest of his contract.
It is not just Tuchel that is in line for some compensation though, his back-room staff will also take home a combined sum of around £2m for their services to the cause.
It has been apparent ever since Boehly took over as club owner that there was friction between those running things with the first-team and those at the top of the hierarchy at boardroom level.
Defeat in Croatia to Dinamo Zagreb was clearly just the nail in the coffin.
Read the full story on Tuchel’s final Chelsea pay-day HERE.
Boehly holds crunch talks with Blues players
Chelsea owner Todd Boehly arrived at the club’s Cobham training ground on Wednesday afternoon to hold talks with the playing staff.
The American businessman has already proved a controversial figure during his 100 days as owner and the decision to relieve Tuchel of his duties is certainly one that raised eyebrows
Boehly is thought to have broken the news to the Champions League-winning manager via a 10-minute phone call, during which time Tuchel is thought to have tried to plead for more chances to turn the tide on the Blues’ fortunes and save his job.
His request fell on deaf ears with Boehly having already made up his mind, citing the need to “take the club forward” with this decision.
