Chelsea boss Tuchel an ‘admirer’ of £25m Rice alternative

Lewis Oldham

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel is an “admirer” of Benfica’s £25m-rated Julian Weigl, according to reports in Portugal.

The midfielder made the move to Borussia Dortmund from German second division outfit 1860 Munich in 2015.

The 25-year-old played over 170 times for the Bundesliga outfit before he left in 2020. In this time, he helped Dortmund win the DFB-Pokal in 2017.


England duo grace the ‘perfect’ Euro 2020 XI


In January 2020, Weigl left Dortmund to join Benfica for around £17m.

He has been an ever-present for the Portuguese side since his move, as he has already totted up 60 appearances for them.

Weigl has impressed for Benfica, but A Bola have reported that they are looking to sell him this summer.

They report that they are hoping to free up funds before the end of the financial year, which in Portugal is June 30.

Chelsea are interested in him but they note that teams in England and Germany are interested in him.

Tuchel previously worked with Weigl at Borussia Dortmund. The report adds that the Chelsea boss is an “admirer” of the German midfielder.

The Blues are expected to be in the market for a midfielder this summer. They have been heavily linked with West Ham star Declan Rice in recent months.

A deal for Rice looks to be difficult to make though as the Hammers are demanding around £85m for their prized asset.

Elsewhere, former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has heaped praise on Chelsea duo Timo Werner and Kai Havertz:

“I like the quality of [Werner’s] runs. I like his movement, but he’s not… we see his conversion rate with the number of chances he has.

“He’s not good enough to say, but he will be absolutely the favourite to be the player of the tournament [Euro 2020].

“I believe that Havertz was very disappointing at the start,” Wenger added. “I liked him and I was quite amazed how much trouble he had at the start to settle.

“He adjusted, adapted, he came back, he suffered, he spent his period on the bench and came back again. To me, he is a very promising player. I would bet on him for the future.”

The post Chelsea boss Tuchel an ‘admirer’ of £25m Rice alternative appeared first on Football365.

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