Results unlikely to be reason for Tuchel's exit

MANCHESTER, England : Chelsea just spent over 250 million pounds ($285.50 million) on new players - and sold around ten of their first-team squad members - during a busy transfer window but six days after the deadline for deals closed, they have sacked coach Thomas Tuchel.

The decision, from new club owner Todd Boehly who took over the club three months ago, came the morning after a defeat by Dinamo Zagreb in their opening Champions League game but it is unlikely that the move was prompted purely by short term form.

The club's statement gave no reason for the decision and made no reference to recent results.

"As the new ownership group reaches 100 days since taking over the club, and as it continues its hard work to take the club forward, the new owners believe it is the right time to make this transition," read the statement.

Tuchel is widely respected as a tactician and coach and has an impressive list of trophies won in his time with Borussia Dortmund, Paris St Germain and Chelsea.

But the intensity that he visibly brings to the job of coaching a team, which often leads him to remonstrate with referees and his players, also makes him a high maintenance manager.

"Thomas is a difficult person, but a fantastic coach," Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke said after his departure from the Bundesliga club in 2017, adding that the coach and club hierarchy "just didn't fit".

When Tuchel left PSG, on Christmas Eve in 2020, the club's then sporting director, Brazilian Leonardo had a similar explanation.

"The separation was natural. The year before, there had been complicated situations that destabilised the environment. It's human that the points of view were different; it was difficult to establish a relationship between us,"