Thomas Tuchel unable to guarantee Chelsea stay as talks over new contract frozen.

Born in Krumbach, Tuchel retired at age 25 after a chronic knee cartilage injury; in 2000, he began his coaching career as a youth coach at VfB Stuttgart, and in 2009, after a one-year period at FC Augsburg II, he was hired by Mainz 05. He departed Mainz in 2014 and was appointed at fellow Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund in 2015, where he won the DFB-Pokal before being dismissed in 2017. He was hired by French club Paris Saint-Germain in 2018, where he won two league titles, including a domestic quadruple in his second season and guided the club to its first UEFA Champions League final, before being dismissed in 2020.

Early career

Tuchel began his coaching career in 2000, hired by Ralf Rangnick as youth team coach at VfB Stuttgart, where he aided in the development of future first team players, namely Mario Gómez and Holger Badstuber.He coached the under-19 side of the club to the Under 19 Bundesliga title in the 2004–05 campaign.He left after that season, as the club tired of his personality and chose not to renew his contract. In 2005, Tuchel returned to Augsburg, with club sporting director Andreas Rettig noting the club's admiration of Tuchel's tactical discipline led to him being appointed youth team coordinator. 

He was hired despite lacking a UEFA Pro Licence, which he gained in a six-and-a-half month course in Cologne under Erich Rutemöller. Tuchel held the position as coordinator for three years, transitioning into management after accepting the position as first team coach at FC Augsburg II for the 2007–08 season. With Augsburg II, he coached a team which included Julian Nagelsmann, himself an injury-prone defender, who transitioned to a coaching career after Tuchel instructed him to scout for the club in 2008.Tuchel also garnered a reputation for his combustibility towards referees during games, often receiving fines from the Bavarian Football Association (BFV) as a result. At the end of the 2007–08 season, Tuchel's Augsburg II finished fourth.

Mainz 05

Tuchel's time as the coach of Augsburg II impressed many top-level German clubs, and he went on to be appointed by Bundesliga club Mainz 05 in 2009. Having signed an initial two-year contract, he was promoted into the role after acting as a youth coach at Mainz for the previous 12 months,during which he had won the Under 19 Bundesliga with the under-19 side. According to club executive Christian Heidel, Tuchel's perfectionism, going as far as to analyze pitch maintenance prior to a game against Olympiacos, contributed to his eventual appointment.

The composition of the squad was seen in Tuchel's tactical approach at Mainz, as despite possessing technically inferior players, he instructed them to utilize long distribution and focus on pressing off the ball, typically overloading one portion of the opposition half in order to create less space to generate counter-attacking opportunities, as relentless high-pressure would create chances by dispossessing or forcing errors from the opposition. An initial disciplinarian, Tuchel reportedly forbid his players to leave the canteen while others were still eating, deeming it ill-mannered. His tactics of pressing and positional play led Mainz to a ninth-placed finish in his first season as manager. In the following campaign, Tuchel's Mainz enjoyed a perfect start to the season, winning seven games in their first seven, including an away victory over Bayern Munich. This coincided with Tuchel's employ of René Marić and Martin Rafelt, founders of the tactics blog Spielverlagerung, to compile occasional scouting reports on Mainz's opponents. Tuchel eventually led the team to a fifth-placed finish as the club improved by 11 points to qualify for the third-qualifying round of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League. Only four Bundesliga sides scored more goals than Mainz in the 2010–11 campaign, who had scored 52 goals in total. Of those goals, fifteen had been scored by rising star André Schürrle, and ten by Sami Allagui, who was a key part of Tuchel's pressing machine.

Mainz fell to a thirteenth-placed finish the following season, having notably lost Schürrle to Bayer Leverkusen in the summer. Allagui's lack of form added to Mainz's issues in attack, although new signing Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting was able to score ten goals, and midfielder Julian Baumgartlinger's organization and discipline helped the team and "marked him out" as a future club captain.Mainz suffered an early exit in the Europa League, and ended the season with 39 points, the lowest total during Tuchel's spell at the club.

In the 2012–13 season, Mainz would go on to repeat their thirteenth-placed finish from the season prior. Despite a poor start and end to the season, there were significantly fewer struggles than in the previous campaign, and the team finished six points below seventh place. Ádám Szalai, who netted thirteen times, solved the goal-scoring issues up front, while Nicolai Müller and Andreas Ivanschitz scored eight and seven goals respectively. Mainz was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the DFB-Pokal.In what would turn out to be his final season with the club, Tuchel led Mainz to a seventh-place finish, qualifying for the group stages of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League. At the beginning of the season, he had brought in Japanese forward Shinji Okazaki. Deployed in a central striking role, he went on to have a prolific season, scoring 15 goals in the Bundesliga, a record for a Japanese player.

Despite approaches by Schalke 04 and Bayer Leverkusen for his services in the latter-half of the 2013–14 season, Tuchel remained at Mainz until the end of the campaign.However, in May 2014, he asked to be released from his contract, later stating that he "couldn't see how [the team] could reinvent [itself] once more the coming summer."Tuchel explained that he had already made the decision to leave Mainz at the end of the season in autumn of 2013.Mainz initially refused to release him from his contract, but on 11 May 2014, he was allowed to step down.Tuchel concluded his Mainz career with a record of 72 wins, 46 draws, and 64 losses, from 182 games, with a win percentage of 39.56%.

He was appointed by Chelsea in 2021 and won the Champions League in his debut season. He is considered one of the best managers in the world due to his style of management and tactical knowledge.

 Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has ominously insisted he cannot ‘predict the future’ when asked if his future remains at Stamford Bridge amid the club’s chaotic situation. The Blues are set to suffer badly from the government-imposed sanctions on Roman Abramovich. 

Abramovich was sanctioned by the government on Thursday for his alleged links to Russian president Vladimir Putin.  

The Chelsea owner has had his assets frozen and has been banned from completing transactions in the UK.  

Those limitations are expected to have severe implications for Chelsea, who Abramovich bought in 2003.  

The Premier League outfit are no longer able to sell tickets or club merchandise, can only spend a limited amount on travel, and it was widely reported on Friday that their bank accounts had been frozen.  

Chelsea are effectively under a transfer embargo and cannot sign players to new contracts. 

Boss Tuchel has been linked with the soon-vacant Manchester United job as the Old Trafford club step up their search for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s permanent replacement.  

Tuchel has over-achieved in his 14 months at Stamford Bridge and will be highly sought if he chooses to depart. United could attempt to prise him away from Chelsea when Ralf Rangnick leaves his interim post at the end of the season.  

The German has insisted he is ‘committed’ to Chelsea but ominously warned that the future is unclear.  

“I cannot predict the future. Right now my future is until Sunday, actually, and since Thursday, even more so,” Tuchel said.  

“So let’s go day by day. There’s no other solution at the moment.”

Tuchel will still have two years remaining on his deal at the end of the campaign.  

Asked if he was ready for the challenge of managing a club thrust suddenly into crisis, the former Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain head coach said: “Let’s see, let’s see.  

“First of all, I like where I am, because I appreciate the value it has to be in a club with a mentality that fits so good to my mentality. 

“I appreciate the amount and quality of support I’ve found in this club. 

“There I feel very privileged and very lucky. I know how much I need this to be the best version of myself. It has big, big value.