Premier League

Tuchel: Havertz, Werner and Kante attracted me to Chelsea

Thomas Tuchel is excited by the opportunity to work with a wealth of young talent and former PSG target N'Golo Kante at Chelsea.

 
7:23pm on Wednesday 27th January 2021
By
David Lynch

Thomas Tuchel has explained that the chance to work with a Chelsea squad packed with so much young talent - as well as N'Golo Kante - was just too good to turn down.

The German was confirmed as the new Blues boss on Wednesday, succeeding Frank Lampard, who paid for a poor start to the season with his job at the start of this week.

One of Tuchel's biggest priorities will be getting more out of compatriots Kai Havertz and Timo Werner, who have both struggled since their respective £75m and £50m moves to Stamford Bridge over the summer.

And the 47-year-old has now revealed that the presence of such promising players was a key reason behind his decision to take on his new role.

21 yrs - AM, S (C) - Chelsea
83 
Defending
Creative
Passing
Attacking
Shooting
Decisive
Aerials
Physical
JavaScript chart by amChartsLDefendingCreativePassingAttackingShootingDecisiveAerialsPhysical10-10-5051015100%
887
Played matches
16
1
2
Shots P90
1.12
Shots On target P90
0.41
Successful passing %
84%
Final third passes P90
18.08

He said: "I like that we have a lot of not only young players but young players from the academy. Chelsea is famous for having one of the best academies in Europe.

"You can never forget that it takes time to be one of the most demanding teams in the world. We play for titles and we play for results so, if you want to make it here, it's maybe one of the biggest and toughest challenges for the youngsters.

"But we will never stop pushing them, we will guide them, we will help them. We have a lot of young players, especially up front, also from Germany and from foreign countries, not only the academy.

"That excites us because it's always nice to guide them, to help them, to teach them, and to follow their development.

"For me, it's like a feeling you get when you have hungry players that have to earn their results, have to earn their titles here and didn't do it in the other clubs but they want to do it here.

"It's, for me, the basis for a certain spirit and for a certain style that means we want to show a certain intensity and a certain hunger to make our supporters proud of us."

Tuchel was met with a number of familiar faces at Chelsea's training ground, including Christian Pulisic and Thiago Silva, who he managed at Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain respectively.

The new Blues boss also joked that he is familiar with midfielder Kante, having been keen to sign him during his time in Paris.

He added: "It's funny that I join a new club and know so many people, like Antonio Rudiger, like Thiago Silva, like Christian, like also the German guys.

"I've spoken to the French guys before and now can even speak in French with them. We were working hard to have Kante in our team and suddenly we have in our team so it's nice!

"Like I said, the mix of everything - the club, the league, the competition - the mixture of the squad gave us the feeling we cannot miss it."

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