Guardiola welcomes ´exceptional´ Tuchel to Premier League

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola welcomed Thomas Tuchel to the Premier League, labelling the newly appointed Chelsea head coach an “exceptional manager”.

Tuchel’s appointment at Stamford Bridge was confirmed on Tuesday, a day after Chelsea sacked Frank Lampard.

Guardiola and Tuchel previously went head-to-head domestically in the Bundesliga, where the German was in charge of Mainz and Borussia Dortmund while the Spaniard was at the helm of Bayern Munich.

After City moved top of the Premier League with a 5-0 thrashing of West Brom on Tuesday, Guardiola welcomed Tuchel to England.

“Welcome. He’s an exceptional manager. I’m pretty sure he will have success. Happy to see him here in this country,” he told a news conference.

“When I was at Bayern Munich I played against him at Mainz. At the last season at Dortmund he did an incredible job, the way Dortmund played was outstanding. We fought a lot as Bayern Munich to win that title.

“He’s a friend of mine and I’m happy to see him.”

Welcome to Chelsea, Thomas Tuchel!  #WelcomeTuchel

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 26, 2021

Tuchel won the DFB-Pokal with Dortmund in 2016-17, while he led PSG to two Ligue 1 titles, a Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue, as well as last season’s Champions League final, before being sacked in December.

Chelsea, who are 10th in the table, are in action on Wednesday, hosting Wolves.