Thomas Tuchel reeling from 'big news' of Roman Abramovich's exit

Thomas Tuchel has admitted he cannot begin to think about life after Roman Abramovich at Chelsea.

Russian-Israeli billionaire Abramovich has confirmed his "incredibly difficult decision" to sell Chelsea on Wednesday night, amid Russia's continued invasion of Ukraine.

The 55-year-old has owned the Blues since 2003 and helped steer the Stamford Bridge club to 19 major trophies.

But his glittering reign in west London is close to an end, with a consortium of billionaires already making their interest in a deal public.

Abramovich could come under UK government sanctions given his proximity to the Russian state, though he is also understood to have been attempting to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

Chelsea’s players and coaches learned of Abramovich’s decision to sell the club late on in the preparations for the Blues' 3-2 FA Cup fifth-round win at Luton.

And a still shocked Tuchel admitted he will need time to get to grips with the sizeable change on the cards at Stamford Bridge.

Asked to sum up Abramovich’s impact at Chelsea, the Blues boss replied: "It’s a bit too early because it’s big news.

"It’s a bit too early to speak, because I can only think about Chelsea with Roman Abramovich. So it’s very hard for me. It hasn’t sunk in yet that this is going to stop. It’s a massive change of course.

"We did not talk about it (before the Luton match). We did not talk about it, we accepted it.

"The players have internet connections, they watch TV so of course they knew, they get messages. But still we focused in the preparation only on sports.

"And maybe some players are more affected, some less, but in the end we managed to focus, grow into this game and find the key top win it.

"I don’t think I need to talk about it, I don’t