Chelsea, Thomas Tuchel’s secret weapon this summer is time

Time is something Chelsea rarely has a whole lot of. It could be results needing to turn around yesterday. It could be making that big money signing before the transfer window enters its final legs. It could be giving a young player a chance to work through the valleys to get to the peaks.

Time will be Chelsea and Thomas Tuchel’s secret weapon this summer. The club won the Champions League without it, so what can they do with it?

The main focus on this transfer window is the Erling Haaland transfer. That’s important, but don’t forget Tuchel himself said he’d be happy to work with the squad he had. Mind, that could just be a diplomatic response but Chelsea is a better team on paper than they are given credit for (yes, even having won the Champions League at a gallop).

Part of Tuchel being happy to work with the squad is there will be dozens of players returning that he’s never seen at Chelsea before. Some players are already back for preseason and Tuchel is meeting the likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek for the first time in a training setting. It was always a bit silly when Arsene Wenger said it but it does have merit; they are almost like new signings.

It could very much be a case of these players following in Victor Moses’ footsteps with Antonio Conte. From exile to Premier League champion starter, Moses had quite the turnaround upon returning. Maybe the same could happen for many current Chelsea players. There might even be a hidden gem that truly comes alive under Tuchel’s tactics.

But what might be the most secret weapon of all is all the players Tuchel already had last season but couldn’t squeeze in. Training time was at a premium as soon as Tuchel joined and he had to focus in on the players who took to his ideas right away. The ones that didn’t found themselves side lined, but many of those players now have a preseason where Tuchel can put in far more time to get them in line with what he wants.

Should Tammy Abraham click with Tuchel after a preseason, he’ll be a big source of goals. If Kurt Zouma can figure out positioning in a back three, he might once again become Chelsea’s best centerback. If Callum Hudson-Odoi or even Christian Pulisic figure out both sides of the wingback game, then losing out on Achraf Hakimi might not be so bad and Reece James can still move to centerback.

Chelsea hasn’t made any moves in the transfer market thus far. Some of that is all hands on deck to get Haaland to join but a lot of it is that Tuchel simply doesn’t know the full scale of what he has to work with. He’s now got the time to improve the players he couldn’t squeeze in last year but he’s also got the time to look at exiles returning to see what they can offer.

The time to make big, dynasty solidifying transfers is after winning something major like the Champions League or the Premier League. But the Blues don’t need to be in any rush. For once, they have time on their side and they should use it to make all the right decisions rather than the rushed decisions.