Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has branded rumours linking manager Thomas Tuchel to Arsenal as complete fiction
Thomas Tuchel has been heavily linked with the Arsenal job over the last week after impressing during his time with Borussia Dortmund although until now there was no word from Arsenal or Dortmund about those rumours.
However, Borussia Dortmund’s CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has now moved to quash those rumours and has said that he has no idea where the speculation has come from. He also confirmed that Dortmund would sit down with Tuchel at the end of the season to discuss his future.
“It is a fact that nobody from Arsenal called us. We’re taking about completely fictional stuff here,” he said, according to the Sun. “Some day in May we will sit down and analyse this season. He is still under contract here for another year. That’s why I don’t understand all the speculation.”
Tuchel – who took over as head coach of Borussia Dortmund from Jurgen Klopp in 2015 – has quickly established himself as one of the most promising up and coming managers in the world. Although he has yet to recreate the successes of his predecessor, Tuchel has steadily improved Dortmund over the last two seasons.
He has now assembled one of the most exciting young teams in the world, with Ousmane Dembele, Emre Mor, Julian Weigl, Alexander Isak and Christian Pulisic just a few of the promising young talents they currently have in their ranks.
Tuchel has cultivated such a reputation that Tuchel is also a target for Real Madrid. Watzke himself confirmed that Madrid were tracking the 43-year old German especially after he immediately impressed in his very first season at Signal Iduna Park.
However, given Zinedine Zidane’s success with Real Madrid it seems unlikely that Los Blancos will move for Tuchel anytime soon. Zidane has already won a Champions League title at Real and his team currently leads the La Liga with two games in hand.
Arsene Wenger’s future at Arsenal is now in more doubt than it ever has been. The manager has come under increasing pressure from fans and there have even been banners at the Emirates calling for him to resign at the end of the season.
Wenger has yet to sign a new contract with the Gunners and is out of contract at the end of the season. The Frenchman has refused to confirm whether or not he will stay with Arsenal beyond this year and this has only added to the speculation surrounding his future.
Tuchel is only one of a number of coaches that has been linked with the Emirates hot seat, and has thus far refused to discuss speculation linking him with a move away from Dortmund. As Watzke has said, Arsenal have yet to contact Dortmund over the German but should Wenger leave at the end of the season, that could quickly change.