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Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel insists he has not been given any assurances over the club’s future in the wake of the sanctions imposed upon owner Roman Abramovich.

Abramovich has been sanctioned by the UK Government and disqualified as a director by the Premier League in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, plunging the Blues into uncertainty.

Asked what assurances he had been given by the club’s hierarchy during a briefing this week, Tuchel told Sky Sports: “No assurances, and I think anybody who gives an assurance should not be trusted because no one knows – this is my opinion – what’s coming.

“One week ago, the statement was clear: the club is not for sale. One week later, it is, obviously, so if anybody tells me today, ‘This is what’s going to happen’, I will not trust them 100 per cent because we need to be flexible and things turn out to be crazy enough to be upside-down one day later.”

Tuchel admitted football was largely irrelevant compared to what the people of Ukraine are currently going through.

He said: “It is hard to focus only on football, but as bad and as horrible as the situation is in the Ukraine and the situation that Russia started this war, which is incredible and unacceptable and horrible, there are so many things which are much more important than football.

“There is so much more and there are so many more important jobs out there than mine, and that makes me feel uncomfortable because we are still very, very privileged.”

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Cech hopeful of swift resolution

Former Chelsea keeper and current technical advisor Petr Cech admitted the situation is difficult.

He told Sky Sports: “It’s been devastating to watch what’s been happening in Ukraine and of course our thoughts are with the victims of that situation and I hope the situation improves soon and people will stop suffering.

“Then if you compare it to what has been [happening] here at the football club, of course it’s been a difficult situation because we have a lot of questions, but we don’t have many answers.

“But we are determined to concentrate on things we can control, which is obviously working with people, support each other, come to training, prepare and focus on the games, which is probably the only thing we can control at the moment, and the team has the support around to do it.”

Asked about the ongoing dialogue with the Government over what the club can and cannot do under the special licence issued to regulate its operations, Cech added: “That’s something I’m not involved in, but of course we have the board and people from the club talking to the Government about the licence, about how we can operate, what we can do so we can carry on and try to finish the season as best we can.

“These conversations are obviously going on and for the players, we are trying to do the best we can to go day by day and prepare for every game, for every day and we hope that the situation will be clearer soon.”

Tuchel’s future at Stamford Bridge has been called into question amid the uncertainty, but Cech is hopeful his contract will be honoured.

He said: “Thomas has a contract until 2024. As it stands, we’ve been told that the contracts will be valued and in that way, we hope that we will have him as a coach as he’s been absolutely brilliant on every level.

“But that’s another thing, of course. Tomorrow, the situation can change and then my answer will be irrelevant.”

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