Thomas Tuchel has joked about Chelsea’s efforts to sign a striker having been asked about Dortmund’s Erling Haaland, after seeing the London club land Romelu Lukaku.
Lukaku’s transfer move from Inter Milan to Chelsea was announced on Thursday after several weeks of discussions to bring him back to Stamford Bridge.
But, for much of the summer, the Blues were linked with signing Haaland who looks set to stay in Germany. Having been asked about Haaland, Tuchel started jokingly criticising the club’s efforts in the market.
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“Yes, we tried to sign both and wanted Lewandowski as a No 10 in behind,” Tuchel joked ahead of their Premier League game against Crystal Palace. “Unfortunately, the board didn’t listen and we only have Romelu.”
“Yes, we missed a lot of opportunities,” he sarcastically continued when the talk of Lionel Messi was brought up. “That’s why you find me very upset and not wanting to continue.
“No! We had a certain profile and we are very happy with the mentality and attitude of the group. We wanted it to stay like this. It is not a given to have this in a group. it is precious and can be decisive in football.
“In my opinion, it is decisive and we are very careful and want to protect it. It was not about bringing the most possible amount of players into this group. We had to be sure that the player was good enough, in the right state of mind and can give with his personality to improve us.
“We wanted to be as sure as we can with this transfer. There are always doubts about transfers but we are very sure with Romelu because he knows the club and what Chelsea is about. It is like this.
“We think that Romelu, coming through here and always having Chelsea in his heart, is the perfect addition to our group because he embodies all that. We are proud of that in this club.
“We had, of course, some exchanges on the phone but right now he is following the protocol and quarantining some more days and we will work on the details.”
Hakim Ziyech will be out for two weeks having injured his elbow in the Super Cup victory over Villarreal, and N’Golo Kante is a doubt for the match with an unspecified injury, while Lukaku is in quarantine after signing for Chelsea
“Hakim will miss the game for sure because of his injury,” Tuchel added. “The decision is made, it will be treated conservatively. At the moment the situation is like this that we don’t need the surgery, which is very, very good news for this kind of problem.
“We hope it continues like this and he can be back on the pitch in the next two weeks. We cannot promise but this is what we hope. We have some issues with N’Golo Kante, we need to sort it out, from the game. It is from the final.”
