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'Some of them want to maybe leave' - Tuchel braced to make sale calls at Chelsea
The Blues boss is giving everyone in his squad an opportunity to impress, but accepts that changes will be made in the summer window
Thomas Tuchel is giving everyone an opportunity to impress at Chelsea but, with the likes of Tammy Abraham and Danny Drinkwater generating exit talk, concedes that certain members of his squad "want to maybe leave".
The Blues secured a top-four finish in the Premier League and savoured Champions League glory last season, with a German tactician drafted in midway through the 2020-21 campaign making an immediate impact.
Tuchel is now casting an eye over bloated ranks that have welcomed back an army of loan stars, with some big decisions needing to be made on who stays and who goes before the summer transfer window closes on August 31.
What has been said?
Tuchel has told the Blues' official website on having loanees back and senior stars that have been short on regular game time: "I have never had that before.
"That was new, I was not scared about it, but I was curious to see how the mentality is because don't forget, some of them leave their families behind, some of them want to stay in their loan clubs, some of them have not that possibility.
"Some of them have done two or three pre-seasons here already. Some of them want to look absolutely for the chance to stay, some of them want to maybe leave. They're humans, they're not robots and that's why we have to accept it's not the easiest situation also for them.
"But what I’ve experienced every day is the complete opposite – it’s a very positive group, hardworking, full of desire to learn, hungry in every training session and ready to go.
"It's such a good mix with the five or six guys who were with us here in the last half-a-year. I'm absolutely happy because it's so much easier than I thought, it's so easy and so nice to be the coach of these guys. There are possibilities for all of us and this group deserves our full attention, and they get it.
"I don't judge on where you come from or what your history is, or what you earn or what your status is. I'm in charge of this group so they get my 100 per cent. I give my everything, they give it back, they make me smile, I give even more, that makes them smile, they give even more.
"You try every year to create a certain atmosphere where everybody is happy to come, everybody feels valued, everybody feels confident but everybody knows at the same time what is expected from them and then you have to live up to your talent.
"These guys are full of talent and now it's on us to push them to their highest level possible. Then we will decide is this in the moment good enough for us, does this help us, is it better for the player to go on loan or get sold. This comes as the last step in this give and take."
Who have Chelsea already parted with?
A number of exits have already been sanctioned at Stamford Bridge, with more seemingly on the cards.
Among those to have been offloaded are Fikayo Tomori and Olivier Giroud, with an England international defender and a World Cup-winning striker now tied to Serie A giants AC Milan on a permanent basis.
A steady stream of talented youngsters have also been departing for pastures new, with Marc Guehi, Lewis Bate and Myles Peart-Harris linking up with Crystal Palace, Leeds and Crystal Palace respectively.
Victor Moses is another to have departed west London, with the Nigeria international staying on at Spartak Moscow, while loan spells at Norwich and Hull City have been sanctioned for Billy Gilmour and Nathan Baxter.
There are more deals to be done, with Abraham generating plenty of speculation, Drinkwater, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Davide Zappacosta and Michy Batshuayi still some way down the pecking order while Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ross Barkley spent last season elsewhere.
