Tuchel to help Kepa rebuild at Chelsea

Thomas Tuchel will “start new” with Kepa Arrizabalaga after the record signing goalkeeper was confirmed to be in between the sticks against Barnsley on Thursday night.

The Spanish goalkeeper was out of favour during Frank Lampard’s period at Chelsea and was overtaken by Edouard Mendy after series of errors in post for the Blues which led to a purchase of the Senegalese in the summer.

The £72million recruit has received assurance by new manager that his future is safe with the club and rebuilding is needed starting from Thursday’s game.

He has therefore been cautioned not to be weighed by his price tag but help the team with his quality to fulfil greater ambitions in English football.

“It's very important for me to say this: he doesn't have to overachieve,” said Tuchel.

“He does not have to show me or anybody else tomorrow he is ready to be Spain's number one in the summer. He just has to show his quality. Not more or less. So we have to manage expectations because I don't expect him to score and keep a clean sheet.

“I just want him to help us with his quality and for him to give a solid performance to help the team. He has big goals to achieve and big personal ambition. But this is normal; it's why he's here.

“From the outside, he had maybe some difficulties on the sporting side, and maybe also the circumstances of his transfer were a little bit on his shoulders. That was the impression from outside.

“From inside I see a nice guy, I see a nice personality, an open personality, a hard-working guy, with obviously a lot of quality.

“So the good thing for him is that we start new, it's a new start for him. I don't have a history with him and I hope there will be no difficulties because I don't see them coming.

“It is our job to push Kepa to the limit, to trust him and to build up his strengths. We rely on him and we need three strong goalkeepers to fulfil our goals.”