Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel expects his team to face a “recovery” period following the London club’s upcoming sale.

Russian owner Roman Abramovich put the club up for sale in early March, just days before sanctions were imposed by the British government amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.

There were concerns about Chelsea’s future if the sale was not completed before the license expired on 31 May, as the terms of the license prevented the Blues from signing new players or renewing their players’ contracts.

Chelsea will lose the services of German Antonio Rüdiger to Real Madrid and Dane Andreas Christensen to Barcelona in free transfers at the end of the current season, and it is not certain that two alternatives can be found.

Tuchel’s side are third in the English Premier League and qualified for the Champions League ahead of their penultimate home game of the season against Leicester City on Thursday, but are 19 points behind second-placed Liverpool and Manchester City by 20 points.

“You always ask if we have delays in getting players and making plans, of course there is a big delay,” Tuchel said at a press conference on the eve of the match against Leicester.

“It affects us, the players leave. We are rebuilding the team, not improving it. It’s always a challenge, but we’re ready to take on the challenge.”

“I don’t know where we are from day one,” said the German, who witnessed Chelsea’s bitter penalty loss against Liverpool in the FA Cup final at Wembley last weekend.

And he added: “What I can promise is that I will be here if I can promise. I will be here with full energy and positive energy. It will be very difficult to compensate given the situation of the other two teams, City. and Liverpool, who are already improving the team.”