When England hired Thomas Tuchel, they knew they were about to steal several headlines. Not only did the former Chelsea boss become the first foreign manager to take the role since Fabio Capello, but he also instantly stood out as a manager who has achieved great things at club level.
Gareth Southgate didn’t steal those headlines and for all his experience, neither did Roy Hodgson. Tuchel, however, is a Champions League winner who entered the Three Lions’ den with Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich on a CV packed with moments to remember. Now, many believe that he could be the England manager to finally stop the world in its motion and end the men’s side’s wait for silverware.
Naturally, with such an illustrious career, Tuchel has coached some of the best players around European football. At Chelsea, he had N’Golo Kante and Thiago Silva. At PSG, it was even more absurd as he took charge of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar – arguably becoming the last manager to truly get the best out of the latter.
Appearances
67
Goals
51
Assists
34
His time as England manager has only continued the trend of top players. The German now has the chance to mold a golden generation into long-awaited winners in a squad which is likely to include Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka at the 2026 World Cup – just to name a few.
Kane has already been full of praise for the manager too, telling reporters: “Thomas Tuchel is fantastic, he has settled in straight away. He is a pleasure to work for, he has brought the passion.”
Not even Kane’s praise has been enough to soften Tuchel’s stance, however, as the veteran coach named a former Borussia Dortmund star as the best player he’s worked with.
Tuchel: "Outstanding" Dembele is best player I've worked with
Not Neymar, not Kane, not Saka and not even Mbappe could take the crown away from Ousmane Dembele as Tuchel listed off the best player that he’s worked with. Speaking to Sky Sports, Tuchel name-dropped Dembele and described the Frenchman as one of “the craziest natural talents” that he’s ever seen.
“One of the first names that pops up in my mind is Ousmane Dembele when he stepped in at Borussia Dortmund. He was a pretty natural talent, very very outstanding. Dembele was one of the craziest natural talents because he was shooting free-kicks with his left [foot], shooting corners with his left [foot].”
A year ago, that answer would have received a questionable response. Dembele looked like a player destined to fall below his potential and instead suffer a career summarised by injury struggles. But then things finally clicked.
From a struggling star, Dembele is now among the Ballon d’Or favourites after leading PSG to Champions League victory for the first time in their history.
Whilst others began to look past his ability, Tuchel always believed. He had the chance to work with the PSG star during the early days of his career at Dortmund and shaped a player who joined Barcelona for a staggering £135.5m. Now, years on and in the middle of a long-awaited Parisian romance, Dembele is finally proving Tuchel right.