Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel says he will see out the campaign at Stamford Bridge at the bare minimum, amid interest from Manchester United.
The German coach is believed to be on United’s radar after Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the government, leaving the club in a precarious situation where they cannot sign players, offer contracts to existing staff or sell match tickets.
The Red devils had earmarked Pochettino & Erik Ten Hag as key targets but Tuchel is a pupil of Ralf Rangnick’s methods and would be a wise move to replace the interim boss.
But Tuchel has put the speculation to bed for the time being by claiming he will ‘absolutely’ remain at Stamford Bridge until at least the end of the season.
‘There’s no doubt I’ll stay until the end of the season. Absolutely,’ said Tuchel. ‘We just have to wait and we still have to go day-by-day because everything can change.
‘As you know the situation is clear, the club’s for sale, and hopefully, it will go through to sort things out and give us a perspective. But it’s pure speculation and I have no further information than you already have.
‘That’s what I meant with day-by-day, which is anyway a good way to live your life, and now we are forced to do it because there are some circumstances we cannot influence, and at some point it’s not so nice because we have no strings to pull and no actions to do to help.
‘On the other side it gives you the freedom to focus on what we can influence, and this is our performances and to show the spirit.
‘Of course, the focus is on the first team, our players and me and the first team of Chelsea. But Chelsea is much more than the first team of the Premier League. It’s a massive club, massive club with huge tradition and there are hundreds of people who I’m pretty sure worry more than our players and staff, me included
‘For them, it’s important that we show the spirit and give them a bit of a distraction, some hope and show what we are about, and we are about football because we love the game.’
