De Ligt next? The centre-back's Tuchel turned into world-beaters

FT Desk

• 11 Jul 2022 16:53 BST
• 4 min read

Chelsea and Bayern Munich are competing for the signature of Juventus centre-back Matthijs de Ligt, and Thomas Tuchel's track record with players in his position should give the Blues an advantage.

De Ligt is known to be a Bayern fan, and a move to the Allianz Arena appears to be edging closer, but there is an argument to be made that he would thrive more under Tuchel at Chelsea, if the experience of the following players is anything to go by.

FootballTransfers looks at five centre-back's who have thrived under the German tactician.

Marquinhos

Marquinhos joined Paris Saint-Germain five years before Tuchel arrived, but he spent his first three seasons in the French capital settling for fewer minutes than compatriots such as Thiago Silva, Alex and David Luiz. Marquinhos even often found the best path into PSG's first team was at right-back.

It wasn't until the 2016/17 campaign that he was PSG's undisputed first choice at centre-back , and when Tuchel arrived in 2018, Marquinhos was the coach's most-used player as he won the domestic double in his first season. Marquinhos was even trusted in midfield on the club's run to the Champions League final the following campaign.

Antonio Rüdiger

Antonio Rudiger had been told he had no Chelsea future by Tuchel's predecessor Frank Lampard, later writing in the Players' Tribune that: "I was in the floor, brother... I'd been dropped from the squad, and I couldn’t even get a reason why."

Six months later Rudiger was an undisputed starter as Tuchel led Chelsea to another Champions League final - his second in two seasons. Rudiger continued to grow last season, his five progressive passes putting him in the 95th percentile league-wide, and he earned a move to Real Madrid this summer.

Thiago Silva

Granted, Thiago Silva was already a world-class operator before Tuchel got a hold of him, well on the way to his 315 appearances with PSG. But, what is so impressive for coach and player is that Tuchel has continued to get a tune out of Silva at Chelsea with the player just two months away from his 38th birthday.

Silva orchestrates Chelsea's back three, from where he started 28 games in the Premier League last season. With more than 100 Brazil caps to his name, Silva's combination of experience and continued dynamism is second to none.

Sokratis Papastathopoulos

Sokratis may now be on the wrong side of an ill-fated spell with Arsenal, but the fact he even earned his move to North London from Borussia Dortmund in 2018 is thanks in no small part to Tuchel.

Sokratis had been a promising centre-back at Werder Bremen, but one who went to ground too easily, with his slide tackles often masking his own preceding mistakes. Tuchel stamped that out of his game, and helped get him his €20 million move to the Premier League.

Andreas Christensen

Last but by no means least on this list is Andreas Christensen. The Denmark international had been on Chelsea's books since 2014, and returned from a two-year loan spell with Borussia Monchengladbach in 2017.

But, he struggled to adapt to the pace of the Premier League, and never really convinced at the heart of a back four under Maurizio Sarri and then Lampard. Tuchel popped him on the right of his back three, he averaged three interceptions per game, and he duly followed Rudiger to Spain with Barcelona.