Thomas Tuchel has refused to rule out a move for Cristiano Ronaldo, but says Chelsea are focused on defensive additions at present.
Chelsea have been linked with a move to sign Ronaldo, who is keen to leave Manchester United in order to compete for major trophies and in the Champions League.
Chelsea co-owner, Todd Boehly, is understood to have held talks with Ronaldo’s representatives over a potential move and Tuchel was asked directly on the club’s interest in a deal.
The German refused to rule out the arrival of a new forward this summer, but insisted the west Londoners are currently focused on other areas of the squad.
“I would not rule out signing another striker, but it’s not our priority,” Tuchel said, as per the Metro.
“The priority right now is our defence, it’s not a secret. We lost top players and so now we need to replace them.”
Chelsea completed their first signing of the summer after confirming the £47.5m arrival of Raheem Sterling from Manchester City, a deal which Tuchel believes demonstrates the club’s ambition.
Happy with this deal, Chelsea fans?
Raheem Sterling has completed his £47.5m move to Stamford Bridge ✅ #CFC pic.twitter.com/IXZGsA1Xy1
— The Football Faithful (@FootyFaithfuI) July 13, 2022
The Blues are also closing in on the capture of Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli and Tuchel insists Chelsea need new additions if the club are compete at the top end of the Premier League.
“The signing of Raheem shows what we’re capable of doing, it shows the ambition of the club and the ownership and it’s good because we’re all here to win and compete,” said the Chelsea boss, as per the Daily Mail.
“We love to compete and we love the challenge at the very top. For that we need signings of new quality players or otherwise there’s no chance.’
“It’s no secret we lost top players and we need to replace them. Even if they’d have stayed, we needed improvement to close the gap so we need now even more.
“We have top players and even more importantly we have a top team. But if we bring players in we need top quality with top character and then you’re talking about the very, very best who play this game.
“What we’ll never forget is the mixture because what makes Chelsea special is the amount of academy players and we’ll never hesitate to give responsibility to them and push them because the mixture of it makes it special and exciting for me to be coach and part of it and this is the way to follow.”
