Thomas Tuchel conducted a press conference this afternoon at 1:30PM at Cobham ahead of this weekends match against Brentford, here are the 3 talking points from Thomas Tuchel :
Christensen could be heading to Barca.
It’s been widely reported that Andreas Christensen had a verbal agreement to join Barcelona as a free agent citing that he wants a new challenge, Thomas Tuchel confirmed that he has heard similar rumours :
“ We heard the same rumours, yes – it’s like this”. It’s not confirmed yet as I didn’t speak to Andreas about it. But we heard the same rumours, yes “
Tuchel also confirmed that Azpilicueta has had a 1 year contract extension triggered by the amount of appearances he has made, and he is confident that Rudiger and Azpi will stay, despite everything going on at the club.
Tuchel confirms Hudson Odoi is out tomorrow
“ Hudson-Odoi and Chilwell will miss the game tomorrow. Callum still feels his Achilles a bit and has some lower back problems. Everyone else is in training “
Tuchel also confirmed Reece James is back and ready, although it will be interesting to see if he starts or gets subbed on with Real Madrid in mind on Wednesday, overall, the team could be heavily rotated in order to focus on the Champions league or Tuchel could decide to go strong in both.
Tuchel loves the decision of the premier league implementing 5 subs as of next season
“ It’s a brilliant decision – we were the only league did to do it in Europe so it is an excellent decision. I dare to say it is an excellent decision for everybody because I was also a coach for underdog teams long enough and I would have loved to have five substitutes to ensure more players play and increase or keep the intensity level or increase the intensity against stronger teams “
“ For us, given the amount of games we play, the amount of competitions we play, the amount players who go away on international duty – and they go again in summer with Nations League – it is absolutely necessary to protect the players, to protect the quality and to use the full potential of tactical influences in the game. So, very good decision “
The full transcript is available on Football.London
