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Tuchel jokes Chelsea wanted to partner Haaland and Lukaku - with Lewandowski as a No 10
The Blues have signed a superstar striker but their manager said that he is not enough - with tongue firmly in cheek
Thomas Tuchel has joked about Chelsea's efforts to sign a striker this summer having been asked about Borussia Dortmund's Erling Haaland, after seeing the club bring in Romelu Lukaku.
Lukaku's £98 million ($136m) move from Inter to Stamford Bridge was announced on Thursday after several weeks of talks to bring him back to Chelsea.
However, for much of the summer, Chelsea were linked with signing Haaland who looks set to stay at the Bundesliga club. Having been asked about Haaland, Tuchel began jokingly criticising his club's efforts in the transfer market.
What did he say?
"Yes, we tried to sign both and wanted Lewandowski as a No 10 in behind," Tuchel joked ahead of a match against Crystal Palace in the Premier League. "Unfortunately, the board didn't listen and we only have Romelu."
"Yes, we missed a lot of opportunities," he sarcastically continued when Lionel Messi was brought up. "That's why you find me very upset and not wanting to continue.
"No! We had a certain profile and we are very happy with the mentality and attitude of the group. We wanted it to stay like this. It is not a given to have this in a group. it is precious and can be decisive in football.
"In my opinion, it is decisive and we are very careful and want to protect it. It was not about bringing the most possible amount of players into this group. We had to be sure that the player was good enough, in the right state of mind and can give with his personality to improve us.
"We wanted to be as sure as we can with this transfer. There are always doubts about transfers but we are very sure with Romelu because he knows the club and what Chelsea is about. It is like this.
"We think that Romelu, coming through here and always having Chelsea in his heart, is the perfect addition to our group because he embodies all that. We are proud of that in this club.
"We had, of course, some exchanges on the phone but right now he is following the protocol and quarantining some more days and we will work on the details."
Who is out of the Palace match?
Hakim Ziyech will be out for two weeks having avoided surgery amid fears that he had dislocated his elbow in the Super Cup win over Villarreal, and N'Golo Kante is a doubt for the upcoming match with an unspecified injury, with Lukaku in quarantine after signing for the Blues.
"Hakim will miss the game for sure because of his injury," Tuchel added. "The decision is made, it will be treated conservatively. At the moment the situation is like this that we don’t need the surgery, which is very, very good news for this kind of problem.
"We hope it continues like this and he can be back on the pitch in the next two weeks. We cannot promise but this is what we hope. We have some issues with N’Golo Kante, we need to sort it out, from the game. It is from the final."
