Ousmane Dembele at Chelsea? No contact on January move for Barcelona contract rebel, insists Thomas Tuchel
Thomas Tuchel insists he never had talks with Ousmane Dembele over a January move to Chelsea – and is confident Kenedy can fill the void left by injured Ben Chilwell.
Chelsea were aware of Dembele’s availability from Barcelona last month and have been monitoring his situation at Camp Nou, with Tuchel a longtime admirer.
But the European champions’ priority in January was to cover the absence of Chilwell, who was ruled out for the rest of the season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
A move for Dembele could still come this summer when the France international is out of contract, but Tuchel is adamant a deal will never happen mid-season.
He said: “We were open to things, I didn’t have any contact with Ousmane. So there was no contact between us.
Tuchel had warned that Chelsea’s season could be ruined if they failed to cover Chilwell, as he also explored the possibility of bringing in someone to deal with the absence of Reece James, who has been out since December with a hamstring injury.
Attempts to recall Emerson Palmieri from his loan spell at Lyon failed, but Chelsea managed to bring Kenedy back from his loan deal at Flamengo. Tuchel believes the Brazilian will be the perfect cover for Chilwell.
“If you play with a winger, it’s a perfect role for him, given his playing profile,” he said. “He has a strong left foot and is very strong in positional play.
“He can shoot and cross very precisely. And that’s more or less that. He is very talented. There was never any doubt about it and now one needs to have the right mentality and mindset to seize this huge opportunity whenever the next step is needed.
“He will fight for his place and the others will hopefully fight not to let him take their place. Then it depends on the formation we play, but a winger role suits him very well.
Tuchel added: “It’s a clean slate. I think he knows it. I have known him for many years since he was at Chelsea.
“I followed him when he was playing for Newcastle and was very impressed with the start of his career. It was very promising.
“He lost some strength and maybe couldn’t achieve his dreams. He couldn’t accommodate his demands to everyone or outsiders like me.
“Sometimes that’s life and he gets a second and third chance to be here and that’s what it’s about. It’s not about the past, it’s not about this what happened and what didn’t happen, he was good in pre-season and decided he wanted to go back to Brazil and try his luck there.
“Now we had the situation with Ben and having Kenny and Emerson on loan and Kenny was possible and I’m happy he’s here. Now it’s his job to get fit and we have to get him to the fitness, then it needs a few minutes.
“He has to earn it, but he is now part of the group. He’s a very nice guy and very talented and let’s see where he is and if he can maybe get there.
“I think this is a huge opportunity for him and I’m happy to give it to him and help him make the most of it.”
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