Thomas Tuchel has been fired from his role as manager of Chelsea after a string of poor results.
The German coach was critical of his team after they lost 1-0 to Dinamo Zagreb in their Champions League opener on Tuesday night and fell to their third defeat in seven games.
In a statement released the following morning, the club's new ownership led by US businessman Todd Boehly revealed a shock decision to dismiss Tuchel from his post with immediate effect.
"On behalf of everyone at Chelsea FC, the Club would like to place on record its gratitude to Thomas and his staff for all their efforts during their time with the Club," the statement began, adding that Tuchel will "rightly have a place in Chelsea's history" after winning the Champions League in 2021 in addition to the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup.
As Boehly's group hits 100 days since taking over from previous owner Roman Abramovich at Stamford Bridge, however, and "continues its hard work to take the club forward," they stated a belief that it was "the right time to make this transition."
Until a replacement has been made, Chelsea’s coaching staff will take charge of the first team for training and prepare the west Londoners' underperforming stars for upcoming matches such as a derby against Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday and Salzburg in the Champions League next Wednesday.
Despite an outlay of almost €300 million ($297 million) on players in the recent transfer window, which made Chelsea the highest spending club in Europe this summer, Tuchel struggled to integrate his new signings and could only lead his team to 10 points from six matches in the English top flight.
These fixtures took in a humbling 3-0 defeat to Leeds United and a 2-1 loss to Southampton, after which Tuchel demanded that his men needed to "toughen up."
Things looked to be improving with a 2-1 win over cross-city rivals West Ham at the weekend, but the 1-0 loss to underdogs Zagreb in the Croatian capital, after which Tuchel confessed that "everything is missing" with his team, ended up being his last act as Boehly and Co. pulled the trigger on his dismissal.
Still, the fact that the consortium granted Tuchel such money to lavish on players, only to dismiss him less than a week after the transfer window closed, has been questioned by pundits online with one CBS reporter noting that Chelsea were reportedly in talks to extend Tuchel's contract just last month.
According to the rumor mill, Chelsea will open talks with Brighton later today to look into snatching away their manager Graham Potter, as out-of-work Mauricio Pochettino and Zinedine Zidane are also on the shortlist to become the new man in the Blues hotseat.
Tuchel had taken over from club legend Frank Lampard at Stamford Bridge in January of 2021, having formerly been in charge at Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund.
The German, 49, now finds himself looking for a new job just 20 months later.