Tuchel plan to spend big in January

The west London side are top of the pile after nine rounds of matches. They have picked up seven wins during an exciting start to the campaign

Chelsea are also looking to defend their Champions League crown. They are second in Group H as things stand, having won two out of three matches.

Tuchel has a terrific set of players at his disposal with high-quality talent in pretty much every position. Take centre-half, for example.

The German can utilise Thiago Silva, Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger in a back three. Cesar Azpilicueta can also operate there, while Trevor Chalobah and Malang Sarr are emerging.

At the other end of the pitch, Chelsea have Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku. He re-joined the Blues for a club-record £97.5m in August.

However, it has been suggested that the club might have to dip back into the transfer market.

Lukaku is out with an ankle injury and won’t return until late November. His strike partner, Timo Werner, is also on the sidelines with an unknown problem. He looks set to miss the next few matches.

Transfer expert Ian McGarry claims Tuchel is active on the situation. Appearing on The Transfer Window podcast, McGarry said (via Express): “It is our information that he [Tuchel] has requested from the club that they recruit a striker in the January window.

“From what I’m told, there is no definite shortlist that’s been formulated as yet, but you can see the point that they’ve been heavily reliant on Lukaku in such a short space of time since he arrived back at the club.

“This has been significantly influenced now as well by the fact Lukaku will miss at least two games but maybe up to a month, as well as Werner being out.”

Chelsea are thought to be in the hunt for Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland. The Norwegian is also wanted by Man Utd, Man City, PSG and Real Madrid.

Tuchel recently revealed that Chelsea officials ‘speak about’ Haaland. His comments suggested that a deadly strike partnership could be formed with Lukaku.