Thomas Tuchel admits Chelsea’s capture of Romelu Lukaku has increased the heat on him to keep winning trophies.
The German had a spectacular start to life at Chelsea by winning the Champions League last season. And owner Roman Abramovich has backed him by sanctioning the £97.5million signing of Lukaku from Inter Milan, seven years after he left the club for Everton.
Tuchel anticipates Lukaku will make his second Blues debut at Arsenal on Sunday.
Chelsea managers can afford few mistakes in the Abramovich era, even if they have won trophies in the past.
Asked if he was now under greater pressure, Tuchel said: ‘Yes, but don’t we always have this? There were not many names and one of the absolute top solutions was Romelu, so we tried hard to sign him and we could feel he was trying [to join us].
‘When signing someone you ask, “How much does the player want to play for Chelsea, how much of the story does he want to write in this club?” Is it a case of “I will actually walk to you”? This is what Romelu absolutely transmitted to us.
‘Does this add the pressure on me personally? Maybe yes. I don’t feel it but I also don’t hide from it. We try to make the squad better — maybe to be on the same level as last season but for longer periods. It doesn’t work without quality.
‘Romelu brings qualities to the squad that we are convinced about. At the moment [the job] is more fun than pressure. Now it’s our job to bring the best from this group.
‘Outside expectations will not get lower but it’s the same for us. My expectations don’t get lower, so let’s be positive and do our best.
‘Romelu is the kind of personality we were missing up front and from now it’s our job to push ourselves to the limit.
‘Romelu is unique. He can play with his back to goal but also he is at his strongest in transition, with his immense speed. Add to that the fact he is a true goalscorer, so he is unique. Of course we expect goals and he expects that, too.’
Tuchel also expects Arsenal to behave as underdogs to try to gain an edge in the London derby at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners endured a desperate opening weekend to the Premier League season, first suffering a coronavirus outbreak within the squad and then losing 2-0 at newly-promoted Brentford, with Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta expressing surprise that the game had not been postponed.
Tuchel said: ‘When I put myself in their shoes, they can play the underdog role.
‘They’ve had complications with Covid-19 and difficulties in their first match.
‘So they will try to put themselves in the role of underdog which is fair enough. It’s up to us to be focused and we are well aware of everything they will ask of us.’