📣 Tuchel on injuries, defenders departing and takeover update | OneFootball

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has addressed the media ahead of his side’s meeting with Brentford this weekend.

This is the best of what he had to say.

On team news

“Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ben Chilwell will miss the game. Callum still feels his Achilles a little bit and has lower back problems. Everyone else was in training.

“Reece James is ready to go and is in the squad for tomorrow. Thiago Silva doesn’t have the same jet lag as Christian Pulisic because he got back a day earlier.

“We gave Christian a recovery session. He was here but very tired with the jet lag and time difference. So we have to figure out of it makes sense to play him tomorrow and for how many minutes.”

On César Azpilicueta triggering renewal

“I knew it was going to happen because I knew the number of games. It’s good news for us. You know how much I rely on him.”

On Antonio Rüdiger and Andreas Christensen’s respective futures

“The situation is the situation. Our hands our tied. We can’t speak to him [Rüdiger] or offer him. We can’t negotiate with his agent so fair enough if he listens to other offers. But I’m still confident.

“With Christensen, we heard the same rumours. I have no confirmation for you because I’ve not spoken to Andreas about it at the moment. But we’ve heard the same rumours.”

On Romelu Lukaku returning to Italy

“We can’t talk to players. We can’t sell or buy. So at the moment, we don’t think about it. I feel him motivated and very strong in training. Very involved when we do the games.

“He is a winner and will stay a winner. He will stay important for us. He had a good match against Middlesbrough that was a big boost for us and important for him.”

On takeover latest

“I am not sure if I could tell you the names. It’s my information that it’s down to four and in the next weeks there should be further talks and negotiations.

“It’s impossible to plan for the summer. It’s why we don’t do it. Maybe it’s an advantage because we don’t get distracted.”

On not winning Manager of the Month

“It’s ok. We can leave it like this. We can win all the matches and I don’t have to get involved.”