CHELSEA owner Todd Boehly was left shocked when Thomas Tuchel rejected the chance to sign Gabriel Jesus last summer.
The striker left Manchester City last summer and has since impressed at Arsenal this season.
Chelsea reportedly made a last ditch attempt to hijack the deal with the player heading to their London rivals.
However, the Guardian report that Tuchel prevented the move and there was “surprise” amongst the board over his decision.
The Blues struggled for goals this term, netting only 38 times in the Premier League.
Problems with strikers were a continuous theme throughout the campaign with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Kai Havertz not hitting top form.
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Meanwhile, Jesus led Arsenal to a second place finish, scoring 11 league goals despite missing months because of knee surgery.
Reports suggest that the club listened to Tuchel’s wishes on transfers last summer.
He wanted to spend big on defence after losing Antonio Rudiger as well as Andreas Christensen and the choice was also made due to fitness issues regarding Reece James and Ben Chilwell.
Tuchel then splashed £160million on Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella and Kalidou Kouliably.
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The now Bayern Munich boss was sacked after his relationship with the board became frosty and he was replaced by Graham Potter, who was then axed after just seven months.
Mauricio Pochettino will now take over as manager for next season following on from Frank Lampard’s interim spell.
Boehly is expected to step back from running the club, which was reportedly always the plan, and not because of poor results on the pitch.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
