Chelsea will only hand Thomas Tuchel an 18-month contract to become the club’s next manager, according to reports.

The Blues are expected to appoint the 47-year-old by Wednesday at the latest, and it remains to be seen whether he’ll be in the dugout when the London club face Wolves.

Both Tuchel and Chelsea are thought to be happy with the length of the deal, which suggests that the German has been hired as a stop-gap measure as the club eye-up a longer-term successor.

Reports have suggested that RB Leipzig head coach Julian Nagelsmann was spoken to about taking over from Frank Lampard but the 36-year-old was not willing to leave his current club until the end of the season.

That subsequently led to the Blues trying to hire former Leipzig sporting director Ralf Rangnick as an interim manager but that offer was refused, eventually leading to the club to appoint Tuchel instead.

Were Nagelsmann to become available at some point over the next eighteen months, and Tuchel does not meet expectations, you could see a situation where there is another change at the top.