Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel has opened up about his first encounter with the club’s prospective new owner, Todd Boehly.
A consortium led by the LA Dodgers co-owner is expected to complete its Chelsea takeover by the end of May, having reached an agreement at the start of the month. It brings to an end the bidding process ongoing since Roman Abramovich put his prized asset up for sale in early March.
Although Boehly had attended Chelsea’s most recent home game against Wolves, Tuchel had revealed at the time that they were yet to speak. However, the pair had an ‘informal’ meeting in the week leading up to the Blues’ FA Cup final defeat to Liverpool on Saturday.
Speaking after the 6-5 loss on penalties, Tuchel said: “We had lunch together but it was in a room with everybody like players and staff. It was friendly and open, a very informal meeting over lunch for half an hour or 40 minutes.
“We didn’t go into details. It was not the moment, only to get a feeling and say hello. We talked more about baseball but when the moment is right, we will share our opinions in more detail in the next weeks.”
The German continued: “He paid some money so I don’t think he’s keen to drop the ambition. That would be a big surprise. I am sure that he is ambitious to build a competitive Chelsea for the highest level.”
Asked whether he was concerned about the cup final defeat, with Boehly watching on, Tuchel added: “We try to impress with what we do and we do that with full commitment and passion.
Listen now to 90min’s Chelsea podcast Wherever You May Be, hosted by Olivia Buzaglo. Each week, Olivia and guests Krishan Davis & Anita Abayomi talk all things blue. In our latest episode, the team discuss Antonio Rudiger’s departure, Chelsea’s recent form and Reece James.
“We played to the very limit with one of the best teams in the world at this moment and we did it now five times in a row against them.
“I was pretty impressed on the sideline from both teams and the way we played with the commitment and the quality to play a final but I didn’t think about impressing somebody else.
“We wanted to impress ourselves and take what we thought we deserved given the circumstances in which we arrived. We were ready to take it but we didn’t unfortunately.”
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