Boehly, Chelsea Take Major Risk in Firing Tuchel

Chelsea’s summer spending has been a hot topic of discussion all around the football world. And after forking out nearly $300 million on new players, there is more pressure on Thomas Tuchel to get the best out of his squad.

But, of course, pressure is synonymous with the Chelsea job. New owner Todd Boehly has now shown he may give managers a similar short leash as Roman Abramovich did, firing Tuchel after a 1-0 loss to Dinamo Zagreb in the opening match week of the Champions League.

It has been a tumultuous few months for Chelsea ever since the UK government forced Abrahamovich to sell the club, and their scrambling behavior in the transfer market was polarizing. Some fans viewed the spending as strong statements by the new ownership, while others looked at how much they were overpaying for players such as Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana and grimaced at the overall costs.

The one shining light was the idea that Tuchel was working with Boehly in his recruitment efforts, and the players coming in were hand-picked by the manager. In a vacuum, maybe Chelsea was overpaying, but if they were perfect for Tuchel, their value to Chelsea rose, so the prices being paid were fair.

Now, however, that optimism has been thrown out the window. Reports have started to surface that Tuchel and Boehly did not have such a great working relationship behind closed doors, which is not dissimilar to disputes that came about in Tuchel’s exits from PSG and Borussia Dortmund in the past.

Still, firing a manager just six games into a league season reeks of inexperience and panic. Tuchel brought the club their second-ever Champions League trophy just under 18 months ago and led the team to a respectable third-place finish in the league and two domestic finals last season.

Boehly and Tuchel may not have been as harmonious as some fans thought

Chelsea’s play had certainly fallen off since Tuchel’s earlier days at the club, as the defense got shakier and the goals really, really dried up. They have been a dull watch this season, and Tuchel has to take some blame for this. Many of his forwards, including Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic, and Mason Mount, have previously found success at the highest level but couldn’t get the job done consistently in Tuchel’s system.

Did they feel mismanaged by him? Were his messages not getting through? Or was his system too rigid and limited the creativity of his players? These are all fair questions to ask, but I am unsure whether Boehly had enough answers to warrant firing such a great tactician.

Odds are, Chelsea will hire either Graham Potter or Mauricio Pochettino, two accomplished managers who have their own strengths and weaknesses. There are not many managers better than Tuchel in world football, and while Potter may have that potential, we have not seen him do it for a club as big as Chelsea, and even if he is a very good manager, is he better than Tuchel? Pochettino found great success at Tottenham but fell short at PSG with arguably the most talented attacking group of all time.

Potter is the favorite to take the reins at Chelsea

Tuchel’s time at Chelsea was undoubtedly a success, but cracks were beginning to show. However, he had earned the right to attempt to paper over those cracks, and with the players brought in seemingly built for his style and formation, Chelsea should have at least given him some more time to integrate the new acquisitions. Instead, they are taking a massive risk by firing a coach who gave them the chance to compete with Manchester City and Liverpool tactically, and only time will tell if they get rewarded.