“It’s strange times”- Tuchel drops hint regarding Chelsea’s plans for January window

Thomas Tuchel claims Chelsea have no immediate January transfer plans

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, as quoted by football.london, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has revealed that he has not discussed any January transfer plans with the club.

The Blues would be hoping to go into the new year on the front foot. We squandered our lead at the top of the table 10 days ago, after losing to London rivals West Ham United. However, injuries have also played a part in our recent rough patch of form.

Ben Chilwell, N’Golo Kante, Trevoh Chalobah, and Mateo Kovacic have suffered through injuries or sickness in recent weeks. Keeping this in mind, Tuchel was quizzed about his general plans for the January transfer window.

The German boss gave a straight response and revealed that he is yet to talk about that to the club, especially since the men in blue already have a strong squad.

“Anyway, we are not in talks right now that we bring in players. Because first of all we trust our squad, and hope that we can bring all our players back and be in full strength. Then we have a strong squad and a good atmosphere to protect. This is where we are right now.”

Tuchel also revealed that the club is unlikely to demand vaccination jabs from players that they would try to sign in the coming transfer windows.

“Of course, it is strange times, crazy times, and we need to be very careful, but it has not gone so far at the moment here that we discuss vaccination status.”

Should we dip into the January transfer market?

The recent injuries have shown us the lack of quality depth in our squad. Ruben Loftus-Cheek is clearly not ready to play week-in and week-out, while Saul Niguez has failed to impress since his loan move from Atletico Madrid.

Romelu Lukaku is also yet to start firing. Edouard Mendy and Hakim Ziyech are also likely to travel for the AFCON tournament in January. Thus, the Blues could certainly try to sign a midfielder or a backup goalkeeper. A left-back could also be eyed since Marcos Alonso looks far from the marauding full-back that started the season. 

However, signing players in January has rarely been fruitful for us. Ross Barkley, Emerson Palmieri, and Gonzalo Higuain are prime examples of our failures of signing the right player in the winter window.

The best players are more often than not, available in the summer rather than mid-season since clubs would generally not want to lose their prized assets halfway through their campaign- unless, of course, they have their reasons for wanting otherwise. Thus, unless we can sign quality options, it is better to work with the current squad. 

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Moreover, Kante and Chalobah have returned from injury. Kovacic is also set to come out of isolation soon, while Chilwell could return in mid-January. Thus, a final decision could be taken once an entire assessment of the squad is done in the coming weeks. 

And as for Tuchel’s aforementioned quotes, it’s not uncommon for managers to be diplomatic and it’s not like he will spill out his January plans in its entirety in front of the reports a few weeks before the window even opens.