Friends of Tuchel suggest he has wanted to make his mark in English football since he was forced to retire from a playing career at 25. After rising quickly through the German coaching education system, he won the German Cup with Borussia Dortmund and, while at Paris St-Germain, Ligue 1 twice as well as the Coupe de France. Winning the European Cup, followed by Uefa Super Cup and Fifa Club World Cup, with Chelsea rank as his greatest achievements in the game. Tuchel has made no secret that he believes England has treated him with more warmth and affection than his native Germany.

His relationship with English journalists is significantly more relaxed than his been at times with German counterparts. That will be put to the test now he faces greater scrutiny than ever, but, counter-intuitively, Tuchel often seems more at ease speaking in English than he does in his native tongue.

Critics suggest Tuchel could prove a divisive England manager, pointing to his grim time at Bayern when there were often rumours of player fallouts. In Germany, his successor Vincent Kompany had been praised for being a more unifying figure in the dressing room than Tuchel, who can be irritable.

‘He is not an easy person – or easy to deal with’

However, it is Tuchel’s other strengths that led the FA to move quickly to agree terms. For more than a decade, he has been rated as one of European football’s finest original thinkers. At Bundesliga side Mainz, his methods became of international note when a 2012 presentation he gave became a viral video. In the Rule Breaker video, Tuchel explains, for instance, how he coached his players to pass the ball diagonally instead of simply down the wing.

Mainz had by then qualified for the Europa League for the first time. Tuchel and the club had a falling out two years later and a pattern was formed. “He is not an easy person, or easy to deal with, but I believe all good coaches are complicated,” said Christian Heidel, Mainz’s long-time executive and sporting director, told the BBC in 2021. “Complicated means they are also tough. They make demands of those around them, their players from morning to night and for that reason, they are incredible coaches.”