Transfer Rumour: Chelsea deny interest in former Borussia Dortmund boss Thomas Tuchel as a replacement for Antonio Conte

Premier League champions Chelsea have rubbished reports of them looking to replace Antonio Conte and being interested in Thomas Tuchel

Recently, a report in German outlet SportBild suggested that Antonio Conte’s time as Chelsea boss was coming to an end and even claimed that Chelsea Director Marina Granovskaia had zeroed in on former Borussia Dortmund boss Thomas Tuchel as a replacement.

There have been rumours circulating this summer about Conte not being on good terms with the Chelsea hierarchy due to the lack of transfer activity taking place. Despite spending upwards of £120 million on Morata, Bakayoko and Rudiger, they are still short on players in their squad.

Nathan Ake, Nathaniel Chalobah, John Terry, Bertrand Traore, Asmir Begovic and Nemanja Matic have all left the club this summer while Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Kurt Zouma have departed on loan, leaving Conte with only 21 first team players, excluding the outgoing Diego Costa.

Antonio Conte had reportedly told the 27-year-old striker that he wasn’t going to feature in his plans for the coming season, something that reportedly didn’t go down quite well with Granovskaia. The Spanish international was said to be a favourite of Granovskaia, who was personally involved in purchasing him from Atletico Madrid.

The relationship between the the Conte and Granovskaia is said to be strained and she has reportedly collected all the information on Tuchel, who will reportedly be interested in taking up the role. The 43-year-old left Dortmund at the end of last season, despite winning their first major title since 2014, due to some disagreements with the club’s board.

Since then, Goal have claimed that Chelsea have no such interest in the German boss. Club sources have denied that Chelsea the blues are looking to replace Conte and Telegraph correspondent Matt Law has released a tweet stating the same.

Chelsea have no succession plan for Conte and Tuchel is not a name on their radar #cfc

— Matt Law (@Matt_Law_DT) August 23, 2017

Conte has himself stated that he hoped to stay at Chelsea for the long term. The official Chelsea website quote him having said: “Why not? I hope. This could be a fantastic challenge for me and also for the club, to stay together and also to play with this team in a new stadium.”

The Italian previously stated in an interview with Sky Sports just before the start of the new Premier League season that it would be difficult to retain the title without new players. Before adding that he hoped to improve upon his current squad and insisted that the club knew his priorities.

Reports of Conte’s sacking would have undoubtedly come as a surprise to the Chelsea fans, especially after the kind of season they had the last time around. The Blues won a record 30 Premier League games on their way to winning the title, in absolutely dominant fashion.

Keeping Conte at the helm clearly the best possible decision for Chelsea going forward. He took a side that finished 10th, all the way back to the summit of the English top flight and over the course of the past year has endeared himself to the fans and most of the players as well.