Breaking News: Chelsea Sack Tuchel

Chelsea have sacked head coach Thomas Tuchel after a string of poor results which climaxed with yesterday's 0-1 loss to minnows Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia.

Members of the club's backroom staff will take interim charge, possibly also for Saturday's Premier League trip to Fulham, as the search begins for Tuchel's replacement.

Chelsea have spent a record £266m in one window to bring in Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella, Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly 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.

Chelsea announced the sacking in a club statement which said:

“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. 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.

“There will be no further comment until a new head coach appointment is made.”

Tuchel was appointed as Frank Lampard's successor in January 2021 and guided Chelsea to their second Champions League crown in May that year.

In February, he led Chelsea to the only trophy previously to elude Abramovich during his 19-year tenure, the Club World Cup, with victory over Palmeiras in Abu Dhabi.

However, Tuchel then came under intense pressure as the public face of the club as Abramovich was effectively forced into selling Chelsea after the U.K. government imposed sanctions relating to his alleged ties to Russia president Vladimir Putin.

Tuchel steered the club through a difficult period on the pitch as the Boehly/Clearlake consortium negotiated their purchase of the club.

However, disagreements emerged over the club's transfer strategy and sources have suggested Boehly became concerned that Tuchel's messages were not getting through to the players, many of whom had become frustrated at his approach.

Tuesday's defeat in Zagreb was their third consecutive away loss, the first time that had happened under Tuchel, while the club lie sixth in the Premier League having won three of their opening six matches.

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 expected to approach Brighton for permission to speak to Graham Potter.

Potter is understood to be Chelsea’s first choice but Mauricio Pochettino and Zinedine Zidane, both of whom are out of work, are also on their shortlist