“We did excellent signings” – Tuchel rates transfer window and more

Thomas Tuchel rates the business done by Chelsea in the summer window

Speaking in the press conference ahead of the game against West Ham United (h/t Chelsea website), Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel was happy with the transfer business done by the club during the recently-concluded summer window.

The Blues ended up signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Denis Zakaria on deadline day, in addition to other signings Wesley Fofana, Raheem Sterling, Marc Cucurella, Kalidou Koulibaly, Cesare Casadei, Carney Chukwuemeka and Omari Hutchinson.

Tuchel talked about how making additions to the squad was desperately needed, and that he wouldn’t go after the price tags as they have good players with great characters.

Here’s what he said when asked about rating the transfer window (h/t Chelsea website):

We can discuss endlessly if we overspent, but the players we got are very good players and personalities.

Everything was desperately needed to rebuild the group and inspire the group. We did excellent signings. It doesn’t help if we talk about the price. This is how the market was for us, it was nobody’s fault given the situation, but the players we got fit perfectly and I’m very happy to work with this group now.

On top of that, the Blues manager had his say on the arrivals of Aubameyang and Fofana, the two players who were endlessly linked with a move to Stamford Bridge throughout the summer, only to get it completed very late in the window.

Here’s what Tuchel said on Aubameyang and Fofana (h/t Chelsea website):

We know very well what we get with Auba, and he was very keen to come back to the Premier League. Hopefully he can be that good again. We are very happy we could make it happen. He has delivered everywhere he has played. 

He’s (Fofana) young, he’s fast, he’s very strong in set-pieces, defending and attacking, and he was one of our very early targets. He has the kind of profile we had identified early as a replacement for Toni and Andreas.

All in all, a fantastic window for Chelsea with key signings made to cover some gaping holes in the squad. Getting a number nine must be the icing on the cake as they struggled without one in the first five games of this season and the past as well.

The Blues have made a slow start to this campaign, with only seven points won from five games. With the transfer window distraction now done and dusted, it is time for the team and Tuchel to gel together with the new signings and construct a run of wins.

More Chelsea News:

• Chelsea set to miss out on Wilfried Zaha, Anthony Gordon and Arsen Zakharyan
• Tottenham Hotspur have entered the running to sign Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech
• Transfer News: Chelsea are linked with Ibrahim Sangare

They face West Ham at Stamford Bridge this weekend, before commencing their Champions League journey with an away game against Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday. With the sort of additions made, the pressure is on Tuchel to get his side playing well very soon.