Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand admits he’s also heard about the bizarre story involving Chelsea owner Todd Boehly advising Thomas Tuchel to play a 4-4-3 formation.
The American bought Chelsea from Roman Abramovich earlier this year, but has very much kept the Abramovich era alive at Stamford Bridge by sacking Tuchel just seven games into the new season.
The German tactician had done hugely impressive work with the Blues, guiding them to Champions League glory in 2020/21, whilst also being a little unlucky to lose both domestic cup finals on penalties against Liverpool last season.
Still, Boehly seems keen to stamp his authority on Chelsea, and Ferdinand has given some slightly troubling insight into how much control the new ownership seems to want.
This includes pushing for former manager Tuchel to play a 4-4-3 formation, or, in other words, break the rules and use 12 players on the pitch…
It remains to be seen if this rumour is definitely true, but Ferdinand seems to have received this information as well as The Athletic, who were the first to report on it.
Their report also stated that sources inside Chelsea denied this rumour, however, so we’ll probably never know for sure if it really happened.
“[It’s a good formation] if you can get away with one extra player on the pitch! They’re the kind of stories that I’m hearing as well, trying to influence even player selection,” Ferdinand said on Vibe with Five.
“And when you get to that point you can understand why a manager would have some pushback and go, “Woah woah woah, what’s going on here?”
. @StanCollymore relays a fascinating encounter he had with new #CFC boss Graham Potter while on holiday ??
"I asked him about all of it." ?
"It is no surprise, whatsoever, if Todd Boehly has done his homework…" ? pic.twitter.com/qHY2rwKvlv
— CaughtOffside (@caughtoffside) September 12, 2022
“I think Tuchel, the personality and character that he is, would have looked at that and gone, “Woah, I’m not accepting that!”
“Some other managers might have thought, “It’s new owners so I’ll do as they say and I’ll dance to their tune” but I don’t think Thomas Tuchel is that guy.”