Thomas Tuhcel has confirmed that Spanish left-back Marcos Alonso has asked to leave Chelsea in order to complete a move to Laliga giants Barcelona.

The Catalans have tried to sign both Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta this summer, however, the Chelsea captain recently signed a new two-year contract.

Barcelona are continuing to push ahead with a move for Alonso and the Spaniard was missing from Chelsea’s matchday squad in their Premier League opener at Everton on Saturday.

And when asked if Alonso’s absence is linked with his desire to join Barcelona, Tuchel replied: “That is the case.

“He tries to leave and we agreed to this wish, and that’s why it would have never made sense to have him on the pitch today.

“He would’ve been on the pitch otherwise. In this situation it’s the right thing to do.”

Chelsea sealed a 1-0 victory thanks to Jorginho’s first-half penalty.

But after the game Tuchel praised the performance of Thiago Silva, with the 37-year-old delivering an impressive display at Goodison Park.

“Maybe I never worked with a player in general that age, so he is the fittest one I’ve trained at that age,” Tuchel said.

“In general, all three of our players in the back three were in their thirties, the two number sixes are in their thirties, and we could see that we struggled a bit physically at the end of the match.

“We need to improve our physical level and we will improve. We can be confident we will improve and we are on it.

“Thiago is a key, key player in the middle of the defence right now but we need to move on the ball, not off the ball, to invest more physically with more runs. That will come with more training and more games.”

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