Tuchel Rejected Signing Cristiano Ronaldo for Chelsea

Chelsea has recently been fully acquired by Clearlake Capital, marking the end of Todd Boehly's four-year stake in the club. The American businessman was part of the consortium that purchased the club from Roman Abramovich in May 2022. He took on the role of interim sporting director during that summer's transfer window and immediately sought to sign Cristiano Ronaldo.

This revelation comes from The Athletic, which recounted Boehly's history at Chelsea. According to the report, to navigate his first transfer market at the helm, Boehly met with super-agent Jorge Mendes and was intrigued by the prospect of signing Cristiano Ronaldo, who was enduring a turbulent period at Manchester United.

CR7 had returned to his former club the previous year, but United had a disappointing season, which concluded with Ralph Rangnick as interim manager after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's dismissal. Ronaldo was the team's top scorer with 24 goals, yet the club finished the Premier League in 6th place.

Boehly, therefore, saw an opportunity to bring Ronaldo to London, but it was ultimately Thomas Tuchel who blocked the transfer. According to The Athletic, the German coach, who had won the Champions League a year prior, "made his strong opposition to any deal for the Portuguese forward abundantly clear on multiple occasions."

Chelsea's most high-profile signing that summer ended up being Raheem Sterling (€56 million). Tuchel would be sacked just seven games into the 2022/23 season, midway through which Ronaldo openly expressed his disappointment with his return to Manchester and subsequently signed with Al Nassr.