Chelsea: Was Tuchel right to call out Hudson-Odoi?
Thomas Tuchel has revealed that he came close to signing Bruno Fernandes during his time at Paris Saint-Germain. The attacking midfielder has been a revelation since arriving at Manchester United but now it appears things could have been very different for the Portuguese international.
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He has 15 goals and 10 assists to his name in 25 Premier League outings this season, meaning Chelsea have their work cut out to stop him at Stamford Bridge this afternoon.
Tuchel is under no illusions that his players will need to be at the top of their game to minimise his impact on the fixture.
"He was a big personality for Sporting and an effective goalscorer and an effective guy to make the other players around more dangerous," Tuchel added.
"To come from Portugal, from a competitive team - a big club but not from the strongest league - and step to one of the biggest clubs in the Premier League and the strongest league in Europe, and to have this kind of impact, I have nothing but the biggest respect for this guy.
"He has [had] a huge, huge impact and to have this as a single person in football, you must be absolutely top level because this is almost impossible. The impact he has had is indescribable and unbelievable."
Bruno Fernandes joined Manchester United in January 2020 (Image: GETTY)
PSG are not the only club that tried to sign Fernandes, though.
Tottenham also came close following talks with Sporting in Lisbon back in August 2019.
Fernandes has since admitted he was sad that the transfer never materialised before United came calling.
“I was close to Tottenham. In the summer I was closer to Tottenham than Manchester,” he told the Official Manchester United Podcast.
“Sporting thought at that moment the proposal was not good enough, they thought they deserved more for a player like me. They wanted more money. I was not mad, I was sad.
“I thought my dream of coming to the Premier League was not happening. At the time, the dream to come to the Premier League, to a club like Tottenham was an amazing proposal.”