Ousmane Dembele was told to leave Barcelona during the January window after turning down a new deal at the Nou Camp; winger stayed at the club despite a Deadline Day enquiry from Chelsea; Blues remain interested in signing Dembele in the summer, when he will be a free agent
Friday 4 February 2022 16:04, UK
Thomas Tuchel says he did not have contact with Ousmane Dembele last month and insists he is happy with Chelsea's "calm" January transfer window.
Chelsea made an enquiry about signing Dembele on Deadline Day after his potential move to Paris Saint-Germain stalled, but talks failed to progress and the winger will now see out the final months of his deal at Barcelona.
The Blues remain interested in signing Dembele in the summer - when he will be a free agent - and Tuchel has spoken highly in the past of a player he coached at Borussia Dortmund during the 2016/17 season.
Tuchel said: "I did not have contact with Ousmane. There was no contact in winter."
The European champions experienced a quiet January window, with no first-team arrivals or departures, and Tuchel said: "I'm very satisfied because it was a calm window, and to be calm is always the best thing."
While the head coach admitted Chelsea were "open for things", he also said the failure to replace injured wing-backs Reece James and Ben Chilwell was not a source of frustration.
"No, no frustration because I was also calm," Tuchel said. "I know what kind of quality we would need to add to a very strong group. We trust in the players that we have and it's my job to find solutions when we have injuries.
"We tried, we had ideas, but in the end we stick to what we have and we're happy with it. Reece will come back at some point - unfortunately not Ben Chilwell.
"Azpi (Cesar Azpilicueta) is at the moment in fantastic form and a fantastic place, and that's why it's fine. We try to find solutions within our squad."
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Barcelona president Joan Laporta addressed the situation around Dembele, who was told to leave the club during the January window after he turned down a new contract.
Laporta said: "Dembele was a big investment, with a big salary. He has been one of the last minute situations. We offered him an extension, but he wanted a better offer in economic terms.
"His agent decided to stay in silence and this, of course, has consequences for the interests of the club.
"We presented two good offers for him for this remaining six months. He didn't want to accept and we are surprised that he didn't accept the last one with an English team.
"He has decided to stay here. It makes no sense. It is bad for him and bad for the club.
"Extending the contract would have allowed us to extend our [financial] fair play [capacity]. We were working till the last minute, until 12 o'clock, with [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang and it was difficult.
"We think he has an agreement with another club for the summer. This is what the agent explained to us. I don't know what they think but we will act in the interests of the club."
Chelsea return to action after a 13-day break on Saturday when League One play-off hopefuls Plymouth travel to Stamford Bridge for an FA Cup fourth-round tie.
It is the second FA Cup match in succession that has seen Chelsea host lower-league opponents following their 5-1 thrashing of National League side Chesterfield last month.
But Tuchel has no interest in the romance of the cup, and wants his side to ensure Plymouth endure a miserable day out at the home of the European champions.
"Let's be very honest: we could easily say that it's the best day maybe in their career, but we want to put it into one of the worst days of their career," said Tuchel.
"We want to beat them and we want to make things clear that we are the better side. We don't want them to have the best time of their lives, we don't want them having a very good experience at Stamford Bridge.
"How will we do this? We treat them with respect, we will prepare the team and we will have a strong team on the pitch tomorrow to make it to the next round."
Chelsea will be without Ruben Loftus-Cheek, as well as James and Chilwell, due to injury against Plymouth.
Tuchel revealed James is yet to return to team training after sustaining a hamstring injury against Brighton on December 29, and that the England defender will not travel to Abu Dhabi for the Club World Cup next week.
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