Emma Hayes has admitted she was “gutted” to see former Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel depart the club. Tuchel was sacked as Chelsea’s manager just six games into the new Premier League season, with the club sat on 10 points. This is despite the German manager guiding the Blues to the Champions League title in his first season in charge. Hayes, who has won 11 major trophies as the Chelsea Women’s head coach, described Tuchel as a “great man” and stressed that he will thrive wherever he goes next. â€œI’m gutted, I love Thomas,” Hayes told the Guardian, prior to Graham Potter’s appointment as the new Chelsea men’s manager. “He’s a great man, a great coach, with a brilliant history, albeit short here, who’s had to go through a lot of change. â€œIt’s disappointing and I’m super sad for him but Thomas will thrive anywhere.” 

What else has Hayes said? 

During his time at the club, Hayes was full of praise for Tuchel and lauded his managerial qualities earlier this year, after the German was named The Best FIFA Men’s Coach. 

“The minute he came to Chelsea, I knew he was born for Chelsea, and he knows it as well,” Hayes said.

She added: “'He knows what it is to be a manager of Chelsea, and not many of us get that privilege. But he’s great to watch, he’s a lot of fun, his team’s amazing to watch, and I’m just grateful that we’ve got him at the club. Lucky us!”

Meanwhile, Tuchel offered similar compliments to Hayes, who is the reigning Best FIFA Women’s Coach. 

“She is already a legend here and I’m trying hard to keep up and to stay as long as she does, and to win as many titles, because no matter what she does, in the end, she turns out to be on top of whichever competition; she has what it takes.”

What’s happened to Chelsea Women? 

Chelsea Women have won three Women’s Super League titles in a row and are aiming to become the first side to win four titles on the bounce. 

However, their title defence got off to the worst possible start on Sunday as they lost to newly promoted Liverpool. 

Fran Kirby had opened the scoring for the Blues after just two minutes, but Katie Stengel scored twice from the spot for Liverpool –– handing Matt Beard’s side a memorable win. 

While the result came as a huge shock to the footballing world, Chelsea also lost their first game last year and still went on to win the title. 

Next up for Chelsea is Man City, who also lost their first game of the season to Aston Villa.