Thomas Tuchel refused to discuss Chelsea’s reported interest in Romelu Lukaku but has spoken on his side’s need for a new centre-forward this summer.
Chelsea are understood to be preparing an improved bid to sign Lukaku from Inter Milan, having seen an opening offer of £85m plus defender Marcos Alonso rejected by the Italian champions.
[dugoutvideo id=”eyJrZXkiOiIwb054WDJlRyIsInAiOiJ0aGUtZm9vdGJhbGwtZmFpdGhmdWwiLCJwbCI6IiJ9″ partner=”the-football-faithful”]
Tuchel was asked about the club’s potential interest in the Belgium international following Chelsea’s 2-2 pre-season draw with Tottenham, describing Lukaku has a ‘fantastic player’ before failing to be drawn on the prospect of the forward moving to Stamford Bridge.
“I will not talk about players who don’t play in my squad,” he said.
”He is a fantastic player but a player from Inter and with all due respect I will not talk about him. Not everybody but I can imagine a lot of players want to come and join [Chelsea] but we don’t comment on that.”
Tuchel did reiterate his side’s need for a new striker however, admitting Chelsea require a player with a different profile to their current options following the departure of Olivier Giroud this summer.
The German did hint that Chelsea will not pay over the odds for transfer targets, as reports continue to surround a record-breaking bid to prise Lukaku from the San Siro.
“I think with the exit from Olivier Giroud [to Milan] we could use a player used to playing with their back to goals whose strength is to keep possession from long balls, so we can add this direct style of play to our portfolio and this is the characteristic of player that is not Tammy, Timo or Kai so this is a profile we don’t have in the squad and could be useful but not for any cost.
“We are relaxed and very well aware of our situation at the same time.”
Read – Five of Chelsea’s best signings from Serie A
Read Also – Window shopping: Assessing what Chelsea need before the transfer window closes
Subscribe to our social channels:
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube
