Photo by Gabriel Kuchta - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
Photo by Gabriel Kuchta - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
Under Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea made some signings that really did not pan out.
In 2021, Chelsea re-signed Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan for £97.5m, only for the striker to score a measly eight league goals and fall out with his manager. Saul Niguez also joined the Blues from Atletico Madrid the same summer, but that transfer did not work out either and the midfielder returned to Spain at the end of his loan spell.
A year later, and it is fair to say that Chelsea’s recruitment under Tuchel was no better.
Thomas Tuchel fought to bring Raheem Sterling to Chelsea
In the 2022 summer transfer window, Chelsea signed Raheem Sterling from their Premier League rivals Manchester City for £50m. On paper, he looked like a very good addition.
Sterling arrived at Stamford Bridge with plenty of experience and the reputation of being one of the best wingers in England. However, Sterling’s transfer proved to be a disaster, with the 31-year-old failing to produce anything close to the form he showed at the Etihad.
Speaking about the England international in a recent press conference, Tuchel has now revealed that he was the one who fought to bring him to Chelsea.
“I was fighting for this transfer and he could never prove the importance that he normally had,” Tuchel was quoted as saying by ESPN. “It was a big step for him at that moment in time.”
Sterling was not the only failed signing from Chelsea’s 2022 summer transfer window. Kalidou Koulibaly and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang also disappointed and left the Blues after just one season at the club.
While Wesley Fofana has definitely been more successful than Sterling, Koulibaly and Aubameyang, the jury is still out on him. Fofana’s ball-carrying in the 2-2 draw with Hull City was exceptional, but the Frenchman has had a lot of injuries since joining Chelsea from Leicester City, while his defending has not always been the most convincing.
In total, Sterling scored just 18 goals in 81 appearances for Chelsea. With his track record, Tuchel would have been expecting much more.
In the end, Tuchel did not even get that much time to work with the former City star after receiving the sack early in the 2022/23 season. Since then, the German has gone on to manage both Bayern Munich and England.
In the England set-up, Tuchel has had the chance to work with Sterling’s former teammate Cole Palmer. However, Tuchel recently questioned Palmer after the Chelsea talisman withdrew from another England squad.