‘It is not the priority’ – Thomas Tuchel plays down Chelsea links with a swoop for Cristiano Ronaldo
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Published 14/07/2022 at 08:06 GMT
Thomas Tuchel remained cool on the club's links to Cristiano Ronaldo, and is now focusing on making defensive reinforcements following the departures of both Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen this summer. The Blues have reportedly entered talks with Napoli to bring in Kalidou Koulibaly to Stamford Bridge.
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Thomas Tuchel admits that signing a striker is “not the priority”, distancing Chelsea from making a swoop for Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Blues completed the signing of Raheem Sterling for £45million on Wednesday – the first of the Todd Boehly era, and Tuchel stressed the priority is now on strengthening Chelsea’s defence.
"I would not rule it out [signing another striker] but right now it is not the priority. The priority right now is defence, it's not a secret. From there we need to see what's possible," said Tuchel in an interview with Sky Sports.
"We're competing against the two top teams but Tottenham did a very active and aggressive and early transfer period, they have maybe the strongest squad they have ever had with one of the best coaches in the world.
"Man Utd are never shy of recruiting with a new coach and Arsenal had some big signings already so we need to keep the level up to be competitive."
There have been a number of high-profile departures from Stamford Bridge this summer, with Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Romelu Lukaku all leaving the club, and the Chelsea boss emphasised the need to bring in replacements of the highest quality.
"The stakes are high and we're competing not only against the best teams who have ever played in the Premier League but also the best coaches," he added.
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"If you [then] see the transfer period and quality of coach at Tottenham, if you see the same at Arsenal, at Man Utd, we know what the challenge is. It's the toughest challenge you can [have].
"We come from sanctions, we come from losing top-quality players, key players, we are a club in transition, in transition of ownership, we were behind in the transfer race and we were behind in the table. So, we have things to improve.
"The signing of Raheem shows what we're capable of doing, it shows the ambition of the club and the ownership and it's good because we're all here to win and compete.
"We love to compete and we love the challenge at the very top. For that we need signings of new quality players or otherwise there's no chance."
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Todd Boehly
Image credit: Getty Images
The German also spoke about his relationship with Boehly and fellow co-owner Behdad Eghbali, with the duo taking a hands-on role in recruitment in the absence of a sporting director.
He stressed that, while it is important to bring in players of the right quality, this should not be at the expense of giving the club’s academy starlets a chance to impress in the first team.
"It started with analysing the last season, our performances, our squad, where we think we need to improve and can improve," said Tuchel, explaining the recruitment process.
"It's no secret we lost top players and we need to replace them. Even if they'd have stayed, we needed improvement to close the gap so we need now even more.
"We have top players and even more importantly we have a top team. But if we bring players in, we need top quality with top character and then you're talking about the very, very best who play this game.
"What we'll never forget is the mixture because what makes Chelsea special is the amount of academy players and we'll never hesitate to give responsibility to them and push them because the mixture of it makes it special and exciting for me to be coach, and part of it and this is the way to follow."
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