Chelsea have already been warned off Thomas Tuchel once as the German again attempts to put himself in the frame if the club are forced to make a managerial change.
As reported by Telegraph Sport on Monday, Chelsea are yet to hit the panic button on head coach Frank Lampard and do not have a ready-made succession plan with the club hoping he can turn around a poor run of four defeats from six games.
Providing results do not continue to get worse, Lampard is expected to be given time, but that has not stopped agents trying to push the claims of the clients, including Tuchel and Max Allegri, as the vultures begin to swarm around Stamford Bridge.
Telegraph Sport, however, can reveal that Chelsea have already been warned off Tuchel once in the summer of 2017, when the German was pushed as a potential successor to Antonio Conte.
Chelsea had feared that Conte could quit after his first season in charge of the Blues and intermediaries were quick to make it clear that Tuchel, who was out of work after being sacked by Borussia Dortmund, would be interested in succeeding the Italian.
But Chelsea rejected the notion as they were intent on trying to keep Conte, who had just won the Premier League title, and had been warned that Tuchel, while undoubtedly a good coach, could be every bit as difficult as Conte and his predecessor Jose Mourinho to work with.
Tuchel’s personality and character have been questioned throughout his coaching career, following numerous allegations of rows with his players and employers, with the subject also becoming an issue while he was at Paris Saint-Germain.
The 47-year-old publicly criticised both the Dortmund and PSG hierarchies and battled with his bosses over transfers, something that has previously been viewed particularly dimly at Chelsea who have seen coaches such as Mourinho, Conte and, to a lesser extent, Maurizio Sarri, take pot-shots at the board in the past.
Chelsea eventually sacked Conte because of the scale of his fall-out with the club’s board, while the Blues blamed “palpable discord” for Mourinho’s last dismissal and Sarri fell out with a number of players. A feature of Lampard’s time in charge has been the improved relationships between every department of the club, including the first-team, board and academy.
Other than having to consider very carefully how much time they are prepared to give Lampard, Chelsea would have to give serious thought to the type of character they may want to hire if they were forced to make a change.
Whether or not the previous doubts surrounding Tuchel remain is unclear as Chelsea have not got to the stage of seriously considering replacements for Lampard, but key members of staff are thought to be aware of the old misgivings.
Lampard’s first-team squad are due to return to training on Wednesday to prepare for games against Morecambe, in the FA Cup, and Fulham, in the Premier League, that give them the chance to start to rebuild confidence and momentum.
