Thomas Tuchel remains confident the takeover of Chelsea will go through soon as he looks to repair the damage done by Government sanctions.
The £4.25billion deal with a consortium led by US investor Todd Boehly hit another snag this week, with the Government claiming to be ‘seriously concerned’ that Roman Abramovich would be ‘willing to let Chelsea go under’.
‘I am aware but I have no new information and have not been informed about the character of the issues that have obviously arrived,’ Tuchel said on Wednesday.
‘Let’s wait and see. I am still convinced that it is in good hands, not my hands but hopefully good hands and better hands than my hands.
‘Hopefully it will go through as quickly as possible.’
The sanctions, imposed on Abramovich following the invasion of Ukraine, have left Chelsea unable to sign or sell players, or hand out new deals.
With defenders Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen set to leave, Tuchel will be forced to play catch up in the summer window.
He said: ‘You ask many times if we have a delay in approaching players and making plans, of course a huge delay.
‘We are affected by it, players are going out. We are rebuilding, not improving the squad.
‘We are up for the challenge. I don’t know where we are from day one (of next season).’
But the manager reassured supporters he is committed to leading that rebuild.
‘What I can promise is that I will be here – if I can promise that! I will be here with full energy and positive energy no matter what,’ he added.
‘We will still work for Chelsea and I refuse to think of negative scenarios. We will be competitive, on which level we will see. On how the delay and sanctions will affect us, there is a risk.
‘It will be very challenging to make up for the disadvantage, given the situation of the other two teams – (Manchester) City and Liverpool who are already improving the squad and set one benchmark after the other in all aspects of the game. Things are not easier for us.’
Chelsea face Leicester in their penultimate game of the season on Thursday, with a host of players either out or unlikely to play.
Christensen pulled out of the FA Cup final defeat by Liverpool on the morning of the game and might not play again this season.
Timo Werner will miss the game with a hamstring problem, while Kai Havertz (hamstring) and Mateo Kovacic (ankle) are huge doubts. Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ben Chilwell also remain unavailable.
‘We had no regrets again,’ Tuchel said on the cup final defeat. ‘I think this is a level of disappointment, a level of loss where we can get over quickly and continue because you are OK with yourself.
‘That is what we demand of ourselves, of them. Let’s see.
‘Yesterday’s training was good, with an atmosphere we want and looking up front. We had two days off to digest it. We absolutely want to be ready tomorrow.’