Chelsea may look to offload three first-team players this month to raise funds for Tuchel’s struggling title contenders.
After a superb start to the season, the Blues have fallen away behind Manchester City. Currently, they trail the runaway table-toppers by eight points.
As a result, Tuchel may look to delve into the transfer market in a bid to reinvigorate his team. Some of the stars on the chopping board could be;
Midfielder Ross Barkley. Despite occasionally being brought back in from the cold, he is firmly down the pecking order.
Having not managed to play the full 90 minutes in the Carabao Cup against Brentford recently, it appears his career at Stamford Bridge is all but over.
Since joining in January 2018, Barkley has failed to hit his past heights. He does, however, still have 18 months left on his deal, and Chelsea may cash in.
Whether or not he will have teams interested in taking the plunge is a different matter, though, with his current club likely to want a respectable price tag.
Hakim Ziyech is another player named by the same outlet as being close to the exit door. Indeed, they have said that he needs to move on ‘for the sake of his career’.
The likes of Mason Mount, Timo Werner, and Kai Havertz are regularly ahead of Ziyech in Tuchel’s thinking, and he has failed to impress when handed a chance.
And with Werner and Havertz still to return, it is increasingly likely that the playmaker will find his opportunities this season limited.
There is certain to be no shortage of interest in him in light of his exploits at Ajax, but his spell at Chelsea has failed to deliver and a departure cannot be ruled out.
The final player, meanwhile, is Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Another midfielder forced to settle for the occasional cameo, he has been unable to make an impression this year.
Bizarrely, the dismal loan signing of Saul Niguez from Atletico Madrid has further reduced Loftus-Cheek’s minutes.
The report says that it may be just a matter of time before the club recruits another body in midfield, which may spell the end of Loftus-Cheek’s time in west London.