Prior to his dismissal and the club's move to recruit Enzo Fernandez for £107 million, it is said that former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel disputed with owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali over the necessity to sign new midfielders.
After finally completing his transfer from Benfica to Stamford Bridge, Fernandez broke the record for a British player purchased, capping off the Blues' spending binge of around £300 million this month alone.
Since purchasing the team for £4 billion from Roman Abramovich this summer, Boehly has spent no time making his mark on the organization, spending close to £500 million on 15 players this season as a show of support for manager Graham Potter.
However, he and co-owner Eghbali did not agree with previous manager Tuchel on some moves; according to a Times report, the German was against the team adding a new midfielder despite their pricey spend on Fernandez.
According to the article, after assuming command at Chelsea, Boehly started outlining which positions he wanted to bolster and conferred with Tuchel.
But despite stating that the midfield needed to be strengthened, Tuchel claimed that he felt well-stocked thanks to N'Golo Kante, Mateo Kovavic, Jorginho, and the returning Conor Gallager.
Instead, he wanted to concentrate on strengthening the defense after losing Andreas Christensen to Barcelona and Antonio Rudiger to Real Madrid, according to the report. Boehly dutifully complied with his request by bringing in Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli and Wesley Fofana from Leicester.
On deadline day, the American finally made a decision to take action and lent Denis Zakaria to the team. According to reports, Tuchel was unaware of the midfielder's arrival and did not even recognize him when he showed up for practice.
Tuchel's fate was already sealed at that point, and he was fired a week later following Chelsea's 1-0 Champions League loss to Dinamo Zagreb.
Following the selection of Potter as his successor, Boehly went on to sign teenaged Andrey Santos as a central midfielder before spending the majority of January negotiating a deal for record-breaking Fernandez, who was acquired after Chelsea transferred Jorginho to Arsenal for £12 million.
According to The Times, Fernandez was identified as the player they were seeking following the World Cup final, where he shone with Argentina to help them win the title after defeating France on penalties, and there was a "clear" determination to sign him.
Tuchel, who is still seeking for his next club, spent 18 months at Chelsea, where he was successful in winning the Champions League.
Potter, who succeeded him, hasn't done much better, with the team languishing in tenth place. However, he will be hoping that the club's January spending on new hires can propel his team up the standings.
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