Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has today responded to the reports linking Ousmane Dembele to Chelsea. The Frenchman is out of contract at Barcelona this summer but has been told he can move this month. Newcastle United have been linked with the player and today Chelsea were said to be interested in signing the 24-year-old former Borussia Dortmund winger.
Thomas Tuchel responds to Reports Linking Ousmane Dembele to Chelsea This Month
What Was Said?
Ahead of Sunday’s London derby with Tottenham Hotspur, Tuchel was asked in his pre-match press conference about the reports linking Ousmane Dembele to Chelsea. The Chelsea manager said: “He’s a very good player in his top level and I’m very fortunate to have trained him in my time at Dortmund. It was only one year, it should’ve been longer but I needed to leave and he decided to leave.
“He’s in a situation, I have absolutely no idea why he’s in that situation. I have no idea what the situation in detail is. I know how I feel when it’s about my players so it’s better not to talk.”
No Strangers to Each Other
As well as working together for one year at Dortmund where they helped the club win its first major trophy in five years, the German Cup, they have also kept in contact since going their separate ways. While Tuchel was manager of Paris Saint-Germain and Dembele was away from Barcelona on international duty the pair would exchange messages. Tuchel said: “We’ve met here and there because of his duties for the French national team and I was in Paris so this was more or less for when they were preparing for international duties. It’s very near Paris so this is where we met and exchanged some messages.”
Barcelona Career Over as Ousmane Dembele to Chelsea Rumours Gather Pace
Dembele’s contract at Barcelona runs out this summer and it appears that his career with the Spanish giants is now over. Both club and player have ended up in a stalemate over a new deal. With Dembele rejecting any contract offered to him by the club, Barcelona’s Director of Football Mateu Alemany broke his silence on the situation. He told Marca on January 20: We began conversations with Dembélé’s agents in July. Six or seven months have already passed since then in which we have talked and in which Barcelona has made different offers. We have tried to find a way for the player to stay with us. Offers that have been systematically rejected by his agents.
In the absence of a positive response, the club has chosen to act: “Now, eleven days before closing the last term of his contract, the club understands that the player does not want to renew and that he is not committed to Barça’s future project He and his agents have been told that he has to leave the club and that he has to seek a transfer before January 31.”
Main Photo
Embed from Getty Images
