Tuchel on Hudson-Odoi injury, Lukaku, Rudiger and more
Thomas Tuchel spoke at a press conference on Friday ahead of this weekend’s west London derby against Brentford. Here’s some of what the Blues boss had to say.
On Reece James and Callum Hudson-Odoi
“Callum will miss the game. Callum still feels his Achilles a little bit and has some lower-back problems. Reece is in the squad.”
On whether Christian Pulisic and Thiago Silva are fit after international duty
“Thiago is a bit different to Christian, I have to say. Thiago did not play the third match for Brazil, came back a day earlier and did not have the same jetlag.
“Thiago was here yesterday, trained today and feels very good. He’s available for tomorrow.
“For Christian, we need to decide. He did not train today. We decided to give him another recovery session.
“He was very, very tired because of the huge time difference and he played 85 minutes one-and-a-half days ago.
“We need to figure out if it (selecting Pulisic against Brentford) makes sense and, if it makes sense, for how many minutes.
“It’s always a challenge after these breaks because everyone was all around the world. Some of them played a lot and are jetlagged and so on.
“So it’s always a challenge and you’re never 100% sure where you are. We try to regroup together.”
On whether he is worried by reports Barcelona are discussing signing Antonio Rudiger
“If it’s true, yes. I would try to meet him if I was in any other club.
“Still he’s our player and I still think we have a good chance that he stays our player once things are solved for us.
“But the situation is the situation. At the moment our hands are tied. We cannot speak to him, we cannot offer him (a contract) and we cannot negotiate with him and his agent.
“So, fair enough – if it’s true – that he listens to other offers. That’s the way things go. But I’m still confident.”
On reports in Italy linking Romelu Lukaku with a return to Inter Milan
“We don’t reflect on it. The situation at the moment is that we cannot sell and cannot buy, so in this moment we don’t even need to think about it.
“Romelu still plays a big part – not the part that he maybe wants to play and I totally understand that.
“But I feel him very motivated, very strong in training and very much involved. He is a winner and will stay a winner and will stay important for us.
“There’s no space for being distracted and we need all the players to be focused.”
On Barcelona being tipped to sign Andreas Christensen
“We’ve heard the rumours. I have no confirmation.
“I did not speak to Andreas about it at the moment. But we heard the same rumours.”
On Cesar Azpilicueta’s contract extension
“I knew it was going to happen. Now he has a contract there is a very high probability he stays.”
