Thomas Tuchel Named Chelsea Head Coach

Thomas Tuchel has been appointed as the new head coach of Chelsea.

The German was confirmed on Tuesday as the successor to Frank Lampard, who was sacked on Monday.

The club said Tuchel had signed an 18-month contract “with the possibility of an extension”.

Chelsea also confirmed that Tuchel would take charge of his first training session on Tuesday evening and will be in the Stamford Bridge dugout for Wednesday’s Premier League clash with Wolves.

“I would like to thank Chelsea FC for their confidence in me and my staff,” Tuchel told the club website.

“We all have the greatest respect for Frank Lampard’s work and the legacy he created at Chelsea. At the same time, I cannot wait to meet my new team and compete in the most exciting league in football.

“I am grateful to now be part of the Chelsea family – it feels amazing!”

Tuchel was available after his departure from Paris Saint-Germain, where he won back-to-back Ligue 1 titles and reached last season’s Champions League final before being replaced by ex-Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino.

The 47-year-old began his managerial career in Germany, going on to win the German Cup in 2017 with Borussia Dortmund, where he spent two years in charge following spells with Augsburg and Mainz.

Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia added: “It is never easy to change head coach in the middle of the season but we are very happy to secure one of Europe’s best coaches in Thomas Tuchel.

“There is still much to play for and much to achieve, this season and beyond. We welcome Thomas to the club.”

Lampard, who is Chelsea’s all-time leading goalscorer, took the Blues to the FA Cup final and secured qualification for the Champions League in what was deemed a largely successful first campaign in charge at Stamford Bridge.

But after spending more than £200m on new players in the summer, Chelsea find themselves in midtable in the Premier League and in danger of missing out on qualification for next season’s Champions League.

“Quite a few of the Chelsea players had issues with Frank Lampard and were unhappy, well there’s a new man in charge, there’s a new regime and they are going to have to get used to doing things Thomas Tuchel’s way.

Obviously, there’s been a lot written about Tuchel, what a great coach he is and what a visionary he is. We’ve read all the words but let’s see how good he is in the Premier League. It’s been his dream to manage in England and his dream has become reality.

“He’s been used to operating in a similar situation to the one he’s going to have at Chelsea. He had the same at PSG. He’s not going to call the shots when it comes to transfer strategy. There were people above him doing that at PSG. There are people above him doing it at Chelsea. Obviously, he will have an input and Chelsea will look at it, but they will also have their own targets. It’s going to be consensual, but he is used to that.

“There are three main areas where he’s going to have to manage his relationships.

“The first one is with the fans and I think that’s going to be quite easy for him at the moment because there are no fans in the stadium.

“What would it be like if he was stepping out as the Chelsea boss on Wednesday at a packed Stamford Bridge having just taken over from a club legend like Frank Lampard, who many fans think should still be the Chelsea manager. Tuchel is lucky that Stamford Bridge is going to be empty.

“Then there’s his relationship with the players. That’s obviously going to be key. When he walks into that training ground and meets those players for the first time, some of those players already know him, but they are going to have a lot of respect for him because of what he’s already achieved, his coaching pedigree, the fact he got to the Champions League final last season and the fact he’s coached players like Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.

“The third, and most important area always at Chelsea, is how you manage your relationships upwards. What is his relationship going to be like with Marina Granovskaia? What is his relationship going to be like with Petr Cech? What is his relationship going to be like with Bruce Buck? Ultimately, what is his relationship going to be like with Roman Abramovich? It’s going to be key for Thomas Tuchel.

“Looking at his history and bearing in mind what a political club Chelsea is, his relationships with the people upstairs at PSG weren’t great. He had problems in his relationships with the people at Borussia Dortmund as well. Even at Mainz he had some issues.”

While it was a Blue Monday for Lampard this week, Tuchel takes over at Stamford Bridge less than a month after his own sacking as PSG boss, on the back of a fractured relationship with the club’s board and the big spenders sitting third in Ligue 1.

The German has honed a strong CV since getting his first break in management when succeeding a young Jurgen Klopp at Mainz in 2009.

He has since gone on to re-establish Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga before winning back-to-back Ligue 1 titles with PSG, as well as leading the club to its first Champions League final, albeit during a tenure of mixed fortunes in Paris.

Tuchel has long dreamt of a move to the Premier League and has nurtured a reputation for being tactically astute and developing players, but could the 47-year-old’s history of fall-outs with his previous clubs’ hierarchies – something not unusual at Stamford Bridge – be a worry before he even starts his new role?