Chelsea legend Alan Hudson believes Thomas Tuchel could have a bit more luck with Frank Lampard’s summer signings Timo Werner and Kai Havertz.
The pair both sealed big moves from the Bundesliga in the summer and looked like exciting additions at Stamford Bridge after shining at former clubs RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen.
However, we’re yet to see the best of Werner and Havertz and that will no doubt be one key reason Lampard was sacked by Chelsea last week.
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Tuchel has come in to replace Lampard, and Hudson believes the German tactician could do better with these players as he won’t feel the same pressure to get them to succeed because they weren’t his signings.
“He will look at Werner and Havertz, knowing of their past history but he hasn’t the pressure of knowing they are not the signings of his choice,” Hudson told CaughtOffside.
“He will strive to improve them, of course, and I think he needs a psychiatrist for Werner, as he really seems to be on a different planet, kind of lost in space making the simple things look so difficult. He has to work on his head more than his feet, whereas if Havertz really wants to make it here, in these bad times of the pandemic, he will, for he is ultra-talented.”
Last week, Fabrizio Romano told CaughtOffside that Tuchel would be likely to target young players from the Bundesliga in the transfer market ahead of next season, but Hudson also thinks he’s likely to do a lot of good work improving the players he’s inherited at Chelsea.
“It is no great surprise a manager has other players as a target but I think he might have been told to get on with what he has at his disposal – plus who is signing these players – Marina Granovskaia, or the manager, as Frank found out?
“For starters, with an 18 month contract I think he has enough talent to improve performances and results, and in 18 months that’s all he can do.
“In two matches we have seen a huge upturn in energy levels, even Marcos Alonso coming on as if he had something to prove, and what a goal for an added bonus.
“Played the right way, Alonso is an asset, but under Frank and before he was played wrongly. This manager will sort it out, if my reading of him is anywhere near right.”