Tuchel defends signing Raheem Sterling instead of Cristiano Ronaldo

Although it’s been reported that

’s new owner Todd Boehly is understood to have held talks with Ronaldo's long-time agent, Jorge Mendes, to bring the five-time Ballon d’Or winner to London, Chelsea is unlikely to make further additions to their forward line.

Asked about Chelsea’s interest in Ronaldo in his press conference,

says that he will not comment on links to Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo out of respect for the club.

“

If we considered his name… well he’s a fantastic player he is a fantastic player for another fantastic club in our competition in the Premier League,”

 Tuchel said.

“Out of respect we don’t comment on these players because we don’t like other coaches to speak about our players. This is where this has to stay.

“We focused on our top target Raheem Sterling who we signed and everything else stays behind closed doors.”

On

's possible debut in Chelsea's friendly against Club America tomorrow, Tuchel said:

“He is on an individual programme, he didn’t join the team because some of the team are two weeks ahead of him with training sessions, double training sessions, and there are intense training sessions ahead of him.

“It is not the moment that he joins full team training in every minute on the pitch. We will see what happens but it is pretty obvious what he delivers and that’s exactly what you see on the pitch.

“I have a feeling that he is absolutely happy to be here. It’s a new chapter for him and I feel he is ready to fulfil this chapter in his career.

“They are relaxed first days on an individual programme, which is pretty demanding but on a different level to the others. He will join the training from today (Friday) but he is not there yet.”

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