Thomas Tuchel insists there was no need for Chelsea to even think about signing players on transfer deadline day and says keeping Billy Gilmour and Tino Anjorin at the club was an easy choice.
The German coach was named Frank Lampard’s successor with less than a week of the winter transfer window remaining and his decision to give every member of the first-team squad a clean slate meant there was little business to be done by the Blues.
There was interest from several clubs in both Gilmour and Anjorin during the final days of January but the duo remained with the Blues having quickly made an impression on Tuchel in training.
Gilmour already has 17 first-team appearances to his name at Chelsea and earned countless plaudits for his performances before football was halted last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
His progression was setback by a knee injury sustained during Project Restart but he returned at the end of November and has made six appearances this term.
Anjorin, meanwhile, has spent much of the campaign training with the first team. The talented midfielder, whose career at Chelsea started at just seven years old, has made four first-team appearances, the last of which came against Morecambe in the FA Cup third round.
Gilmour and Anjorin are the only members of the Chelsea squad not yet capped at senior level by their respective countries, Scotland and England.
And it’s that depth of experience, quality and know-how which made the final days of the transfer window easy for Tuchel.
He said: “It was maybe the most comfortable transfer period in my life as a professional coach.
“I was in only a few days (before the window closed), I was happy with every guy that was out there on the pitch, and there were no big injuries. So there was no need for one minute to think about bringing players in.
“In the opposite sense, we decided to keep Tino Anjorin and Billy Gilmour with the group, because I like a lot of what I see from the two guys.
“Billy is very, very close (to the side) in terms of quality, work ethic and personality. He is very, very close.
"So we decided very very quickly, it was not even a decision, it was simply clear that we go with this group going forward.”
