Thomas Tuchel has ruled out a summer holiday as he looks to take Chelsea back towards the top of the table.
It has been a disappointing campaign for Chelsea, on the whole, with the Blues falling well short of the title race.
There were positives, including two cup finals and a comfortable third place finish, but Chelsea will want much more.
It hasn’t all been their fault, either, with ownership issues off the pitch disrupting efforts on it.
Fans were initially banned from games, while the club has been unable to issue new contracts, leading to the expected exit of Antonio Rudiger and potentially club captain Cesar Azpilicueta.
The takeover of the club by Todd Boehly and his investment group is expected to go through over the coming weeks, though, and there is light at the end of the tunnel.
But unable to make any new signing until the takeover is completed, Tuchel knows he will have to play catchup.
And for that reason, he says he will be staying in West London this summer.
“It will be a super tough race. Manchester United will be in it, Tottenham will be in the race with Antonio Conte for sure,” he said, via the Mirror.
So when, finally, we will have the chance to act and make up, we have to be fast and smart because the disadvantage in terms of timing for the rebuild is big.
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“So no, it’s impossible. I cannot go on holiday, no. We want to stay in the race as Liverpool and Man City will do everything to make their squads bigger and they set the standard so high. They are a benchmark of consistency.
“We have clear ideas for the profiles and characteristics of the players we want. But you have to convince the player, you have to speak to other clubs and convince yourself this is the player, so there is normally a lot of work.”