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"It is never easy to change head coach in the middle of the season but we are very happy to secure one of Europe's best coaches in Thomas Tuchel," said former Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia in January 2021.

Just under four years later, it is now Manchester United who are considering appointing the German mid-season. The Manchester Evening News understands he is under consideration for the Old Trafford job if United's decision makers choose to axe Erik ten Hag.

Tuchel is currently out of work after leaving Bayern Munich at the end of last season and is arguably the most attractive coach that is currently on the market. His CV features three league titles, five domestic cups and a Champions League crown.

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The 51-year-old clinched his inaugural Champions League winners' medal in May 2021, just four months after taking over at Stamford Bridge. Appointed just one day after Chelsea made the decision to sack club legend Frank Lampard, Tuchel was tasked with salvaging something from the time that remained in the season.

He inherited a team that sat ninth in the Premier League table, just months after the club had spent north of £200million on new signings the previous summer. Their form had been indifferent and Tuchel was tasked with guiding them to a top four finish.

The German, who has also previously worked at Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain, exceeded expectations in west London, leading the club to its second Champions League crown and the FA Cup final, in addition to scooping fourth place in the Premier League.

He made Chelsea hard to beat, quickly tightening up their defence, and that led to them getting results on the board and a memorable European adventure coming to fruition. The club's decision to axe Lampard and appoint Tuchel was arguably the last good one they made.

Of course, there are caveats to outline, such as the fact almost all of the second half of the 2020/21 campaign was played behind-closed-doors due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But Tuchel, if approached by United to succeed Ten Hag, will be tasked with a similar challenge at Old Trafford, albeit much earlier in the season.

United, who signed off for the international break with a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa on Sunday, are currently 14th in the table, struggling for wins and struggling for goals. Like Chelsea in 2020/21, United's struggles have followed a big-money spending spree.

After Tuchel was parachuted in to replace Lampard, scoring goals remained a problem, with the bulk of the victories he oversaw being achieved by slender margin. Only once between his appointment and the end of the 2020/21 season did Chelsea win a game by more than two goals.

On the flip side, 15 of the 19 victories he did oversee in his first season at the club were accompanied by a clean sheet. He made Chelsea solid and resolute, implementing a system that featured three centre-backs and wing-backs.

It goes without saying that no two situations in football are the same. However, United, as hard as it is to believe, have recorded the second-highest number of clean sheets (four) in the Premier League so far this season, with scoring goals proving to be their Achilles' heel.

Tuchel, who left Chelsea in September 2022, is by no means guaranteed to replicate the mid-season impact he had at Stamford Bridge, should United make the decision to axe Ten Hag and bring in the German, but his impact at Chelsea shows that it would not be beyond the realms of possibility for him to make his mark.

Chelsea's hierarchy would not have been able to have believed their luck when Tuchel took them to the Champions League final in such a short space of time, meaning United's power brokers would surely be confident of him having a telling impact in M16.

Tuchel, despite his differences with Chelsea's new-look hierarchy later down the line, is an elite-level coach that would represent an upgrade on Ten Hag. He has big-club pedigree and a track record of getting results.

United, just as Chelsea did in January 2021, are in desperate need of results - and fast. The only slight concern, to put a dampener on the prospect of him checking-in at Old Trafford, is that he has not remained in situ at one of Europe's elite for more than two years.

United's supporters do not want - or deserve - to be going through a similar cycle to this one so soon again.