Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel insists they never made a serious move for Barcelona attacker Ousmane Dembele.
There were deadline day links with Dembele, who the German worked with at Borussia Dortmund, but Tuchel insisted that was just speculation.
“I’m very satisfied because it was a calm window and to be calm is always the best thing. We were open for things but I did not have any contact with Ousmane. There was nothing between us but there is no frustration. I know what kind of quality we would need to add to a strong group. We trust in the group we have and it’s my job to find solutions when we have injuries.”
Thomas Tuchel also provided an update on the fitness of Reece James and confirmed that the Club World Cup will be a bit too soon for James.
“I can’t get overexcited by pure dates when a player can come back. It can take long sometimes. The injury was a big injury. We need to be patient, hamstring is always a tricky one. He is a very physical player. Then he caught the flu, which was the setback that lost him days. We are patient, we want to have him tomorrow but it’s not happening at the moment. He’s in the best hands.”
Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia enjoyed a midweek meal with manager Thomas Tuchel and his backroom staff.
The German boss was pictured with Granovskaia and a number of his first-team staff in a busy restaurant in the capital on Wednesday night. The pair were all smiles as they posed for a picture alongside Chelsea’s resident magician David Redfearn, who performed for them on the night.
You can watch the full press conference here:
