Chelsea: Boehly and Tuchel had 'disagreement over £20m star' at Stamford Bridge | OneFootball

Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly had a disagreement with former manager Thomas Tuchel over the signing of Aston Villa midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka in the summer transfer window, according to journalist Simon Phillips.

The 18-year-old made up just a small part of a huge summer spending spree at Stamford Bridge as over £250 million was splashed on new signings.

What happened with Chukwuemeka?

AC Milan and Barcelona were among the names targeting a move for the exciting Villa youngster this summer and appeared to be leading the charge.

Interest had mounted in Chukwuemeka as it became apparent he would not sign a new deal with the West Midlands side after entering the final year of his contract.

But, suddenly, it was announced that Chelsea had sealed a £20 million agreement for the teenager’s signature.

Boehly told the club website that he was ‘delighted’ to complete the signing and dubbed the new recruit as one of Europe’s most exciting young players, while Paul Merson had previously described him as ‘outstanding’.

Chukwuemeka added that he was ‘relieved’ to get the deal over the line, describing the build-up to the transfer as ‘hectic’.

Tuchel did not immediately comment on the transfer and, after a slow start to the season, was controversially sacked and replaced by Graham Potter.

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What has Phillips said on the situation?

Phillips understands that one source of tension between Tuchel and Boehly was how they envisioned Chukwuemeka being utilised in his first season at Stamford Bridge.

He told GIVEMESPORT: “This is one of the many things that Tuchel and Boehly ended up disagreeing about, it was the signing of Chukwuemeka.

“I’m not saying Tuchel didn’t want him but they had different ideas about his role and Tuchel was more keen to send him out on loan to go and get experience. Straightaway, you can see why Tuchel didn’t pick him and didn’t play him because, it’s not that he didn’t want him in his squad, it’s that he didn’t think he was ready to play regular matches for Chelsea.

“So there was that disagreement there and Boehly had just spent quite a bit of money on him so Boehly wanted him playing this season.”

Has Chukwuemeka had much of an impact this season?

It is plain to see that Tuchel did not feel his new recruit was ready to play in his first team after striking the deal.

Over the course of their opening six Premier League games, he made the matchday squad just twice and was also left on the bench for the German’s only Champions League clash of the season, a 1-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb.

Potter has only taken charge of one game so far but will have had plenty of time to assess Chukwuemeka in training in recent weeks. It will be interesting to see how the new manager views his role.