Thomas Tuchel has admitted in his pre-match press conference that he is personally badly missing having Petr Cech after his departure from the club this summer.
The club legend was a part of the board under the old ownership, with his position important particularly in the signing of Edouard Mendy.
However, the new owners saw a major overhaul of the club’s members upstairs, and the former goalkeeper was one of those to leave alongside Marina Granovskaia and Bruce Buck this summer.
While the loss of all three will be felt in their own ways, Tuchel has claimed that the loss of Cech is one which the club are still reeling from.
Tuchel missing Cech at Chelsea
He said: “We miss him a lot. I saw him in the last days. He knows we miss him a lot. He was on a daily basis, he was the person who lived the values and attitude of what it takes to be a top competitor for Chelsea. He was a huge help and support for me.
“Honesty was a key quality in all his effort, humble and super honest. We have to respect his decision, and sort things out. Everybody needs to step up.”
Todd Boehly has currently undergone a lot of the duties taken upstairs at Chelsea, with them yet to hire figures to replace those who have left the club.
While he has not been able to get a couple of transfers over the line, it would be difficult to blame the American for much that has gone wrong this summer, especially Raphinha and Jules Kounde’s decisions to join Barcelona.
He has also been named numerous times as key to negotiations this summer, with Raheem Sterling just one of the players reportedly really impressed with him during discussions.
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