Thomas Tuchel revealed exactly the moment when he wanted “absolute number one” Raheem Sterling | OneFootball

Thomas Tuchel has just done a really interesting interview with The Daily Telegraph, where they ask him about life at Chelsea after his first full season with Chelsea, and how he’s coping with the vast changes in the club’s organisation above him.

One big difference this summer is how involved Tuchel is with transfers. He’s now got a direct line to Todd Boehly as the two of them sort out the club’s summer of change, and so far it seems to be working well.

The first player signed was Raheem Sterling, a real coup for the Blues, and one that Tuchel revealed he had personally pushed for:

“He was the absolute number one for that position. I gave his name to Todd straight away,” the Chelsea coach revealed.

That’s great news for us – when you have a top manager, the best thing you can do is give them the players they want.

But he was also asked to expand on whether he could pin point one moment that made him realise he specifically wanted Sterling above all others.

Tuchel wasn’t able to pick out a single game, instead saying it was “every time we played against [Sterling].”

“He’s horrible to play against, horrible! The main point is his intensity and the amount of repetition of intensity that he delivers. This is simply outstanding over the last years.”

“He caused huge trouble when he played against us and once you dig in deeper into his data and not only statistics in his goal involvements, it’s outstanding. It’s exactly what we need to raise the level of our players. That’s why we are so sure and that’s why he was, for us, top of the list.”

Sterling has certainly been a menace against us down the years, and nobody will know that better than Tuchel, who has game-planned against the winger in numerous top tier clashes, including the Champions League final of course.

He will know his strengths and his weaknesses inside out, and will hope to use that knowledge to help the England star hit the ground running this season.