Thomas Tuchel revealed that England’s Manchester City stars are worried for their immediate futures after this week’s bombshell guilty verdict for breaching financial rules.
City were found to have artificially swelled their coffers to the tune of £900million over a nine-year period by what an Independent Commission described as disguised funding scheme and ‘sham’ sponsorship contracts.
While City stress their innocence and have appealed the decision, Tuchel admitted that Marc Guehi, Elliot Anderson and Nico O’Reilly are naturally anxious.
The trio have been inundated with calls and messages over the past week, with O’Reilly now having flown back to Manchester for treatment on an injury.
‘Are they worried or are they concerned? I think that would be a very human reaction if you don’t know what’s going on for the club that you signed,’ Tuchel said.
‘They’re still young. They’re ambitious. They’re told they are totally innocent and don’t know what’s going on.
Thomas Tuchel speaking in Croatia ahead of Saturday’s gam
‘We speak about it at dinner and at a table of eight or 12 people. Of course, we speak about it at breakfast.’
Tuchel – whose side face Croatia in Rijeka on Saturday afternoon – claimed that the news around City being found guilty of the vast majority of charges had represented a ‘distraction’ before then clarifying that the City trio had been focused in meetings and training sessions.
‘It’s a big topic in camp,’ he added. ‘We had some time off between the matches and it is a big subject. How can it not be a topic? We talk with them but only briefly.’
The German did also suggest that he would continue considering picking players in the event that they are relegated from the Premier League as a punishment, should an appeal fail.
‘I would always try to pick the best team for the camp, occasion, tournament,’ he said. ‘I will never rule that out because they don’t play in the top flight in their country. We need to look at it case by case.’
Meanwhile, Tuchel expressed sadness at Raheem Sterling’s ‘downward spiral’, with the ex-England winger a free agent and having pled guilty to dangerous driving after crashing his £270,000 Lamborghini.
Sterling admitted possession of nitrous oxide and a refusal to provide a specimen when stopped by police in late May and is awaiting sentencing or a referral to Crown Court in November.
Tuchel pushed hard for Chelsea to land Sterling for £47.5m from City back in 2021 but has not been in touch with his former player in recent weeks.
‘I have a lot of sympathy for him and I feel that he has struggled ever since he left Man City, when he was at the peak of his career,’ Tuchel said.
‘It’s sad to see that someone struggles because he was a devoted father for his children and he was a family guy, a nice guy to be around.
‘It just seems that he’s gone through a difficult period. I’m not sure how much is his fault, sometimes you just enter a strange spiral in your life, a downward spiral. My thoughts of with him of course, the belief is always that he can turn it around and I wish him the best.’
