AXED Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel left with a £13million pay-off yesterday after losing his grip on players who gossiped about his private life.
Tuchel, 49, was sacked after his side’s 1-0 defeat in their Champions League opener at Dinamo Zagreb.
It emerged that the German — who had led Chelsea to three trophies in 20 months, including the Champions League title — would have been fired by The Blues’ new American owners regardless of Tuesday’s result.
His crumbling relationship with the club’s superstars and supremo Todd Boehly was said to be at the heart of his demise.
Football sources said “perceptions of him changed” after he split in May from Sissi, his wife of 13 years, and fell for Brazilian mum of two Natalie Max, 35.
Tuchel’s love life was said to be often “on the lips” of his multi-millionaire players.
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He took Natalie to Sardinia in July, just days after his divorce was granted. They were snapped on a sunset yacht trip and stayed at a £20,000-a-night private villa.
One source said: “He’d stopped getting through. It probably didn’t help that some players had been talking about his private life.
“It played into how the perception of him transformed.
“He was no longer the genius.
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“He was a difficult character, whose demands weren’t always clear.
“A number of players bristled that he didn’t really trust them.
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“It all just fed into this fractious start to the season.”
Tuchel — on an estimated £7million a year — nets a £13million “golden goodbye” as he leaves big-spenders Chelsea lying sixth in the Premier League.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
