Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly is reportedly regretting giving Thomas Tuchel the boot in the wake of the Blues' miserable fortunes since the German's departure.
Despite winning the Champions League after less than a year in charge and showing loyalty to the club during the Roman Abramovich fiasco following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Tuchel was let go not long after Boehly and Behdad Eghbali arrived in West London.
A 1-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League proved to be the final straw for the former Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund boss, who had also overseen just three wins from Chelsea's first six Premier League games this season.
Boehly quickly deduced that Tuchel was not his ideal man for a long-term project at Stamford Bridge and subsequently brought in Graham Potter from Brighton & Hove Albion, but that decision soon backfired.
Potter guided Chelsea to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, but he only won 12 of his 31 games in charge and was relieved of his duties after fewer than seven months in the hotseat.
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As the powers-that-be search for a permanent successor to take over for the 2023-24 season, Frank Lampard - who Tuchel replaced in 2021 - was lured back to Stamford Bridge in an interim role, but the 44-year-old has not been able to spark an upturn in fortunes either.
Each of Lampard's first six games of his second spell in charge ended in defeat, but his side have since taken four points from two fixtures with Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest.
The Blues are believed to be closing in on the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino as their new head coach, but according to the Daily Mail, Boehly has conceded that he may have been too brash with his decision to fire Tuchel.
The report adds that Tuchel was never expected to continue at Chelsea for the long term, but the owners now feel that it may have been worth keeping the 49-year-old on the books for another full season.
However, Boehly and Eghbali were keen to start afresh in the English capital as soon as possible, and they may have "overcompensated" by bringing in Potter so soon into their reign.
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After a six-month hiatus, Tuchel returned to management in March with Bayern Munich, who brought the German back to his homeland to replace the recently-sacked Julian Nagelsmann.
Tuchel has experienced a mixed start to life in Bavaria with five wins from his opening 10 games, and his Bayern side were comprehensively eliminated from the Champions League by Manchester City in the quarter-finals.
The Bundesliga champions have won each of their last three games in the top flight, though, including a 6-0 thumping of Schalke 04 on Saturday to remain one point clear of Borussia Dortmund at the top of the table.
Meanwhile, Chelsea remain in 11th in the Premier League standings courtesy of a 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest, where braces from Raheem Sterling and Taiwo Awoniyi saw the two bottom-half sides cancel each other out.
The Blues now face a taxing trip to Manchester City - who are now one win away from the title - next weekend before subsequent meetings with top-four chasers Manchester United and Newcastle United to end a troubled campaign.
Ben Knapton
