What’s next for Thomas Tuchel?

Things in football often change abruptly, sometimes literally overnight.

When Thomas Tuchel was hired in late January 2021, he (and his assistants) had been planning to take time off and relax for the rest of that season. Instead, they left literally everything and everyone behind in Paris and arrived under the cover of darkness (and COVID restrictions) at Chelsea. They were in the dugout for their first game in charge less than 24 hours later.

Their departure — still feels like yesterday, though now two weeks ago — was just as abrupt. One moment you’re planning the next training session, the next moment you’re out of a job.

But real life often doesn’t move at that same breakneck pace. Tuchel, for example, had moved his family to London last summer and while his personal situation has changed a bit since, he still lives near the training ground in Surrey, where his children also just started the school year.

And this time it’s not COVID restrictions that are adding an extra layer of complication, but rather post-Brexit visa rules, which apparently have left Tuchel in a bit of limbo.

According to the Telegraph, our former head coach “is thought to have” just 90 days to remain in the country, as per the rules of UK Governing Body Endorsement visas — although that is yet to be confirmed by The FA. So Tuchel and staff are apparently waiting for more clarity, hoping to be able to stay in London until the next interesting employment opportunity opens up. While they ended up not taking much time off after their tenure at PSG, they did take a 12-month sabbatical after leaving Borussia Dortmund.

Tuchel has been recently linked with the Bayern Munich and Juventus managerial positions, with Julian Nagelsmann and Max Allegri, respectively, under pressure after poor starts to the season. Both those clubs have distanced themselves from such rumors and have backed their current managers — though the dreaded vote of confidence generally only leads to one outcome (thus the dreaded part).