Barry commits to staying at Chelsea as Tuchel's staff confirmed
Written by Simon Austin — January 30, 2021
ANTHONY BARRY has committed to staying at Chelsea under Thomas Tuchel after turning down the manager’s job at League One Fleetwood Town.
The 34-year-old joined the Blues as first-team coach under Frank Lampard in August 2020 after three years as assistant at Wigan.
Barry, who got to know Lampard during their time together on the English Pro Licence course, has made a big impact at Stamford Bridge, having a specific focus on set pieces and defensive shape.
Speaking earlier this month, Lampard said: "He’s been a real positive for the group dynamic, and in all senses. He’s certainly helped on set-pieces, but he’s very diligent, he pays so much attention to ourselves and the opposition in every part of the game, from what we do in the office, to studying opposition and working on the training field.”
When Lampard was sacked on Monday, Barry took the training session, which had been moved from morning to afternoon, along with Joe Edwards.
However, his future at the club has remained in doubt since then, because Fleetwood had offered him their manager’s position, which has been vacant since Joey Barton was sacked at the start of January.
Liverpool-born Barry made 58 appearances for Fleetwood as a player and has ambitions to move into management, so he faced a difficult dilemma.
However, he has now committed to staying on with Chelsea, along with Edwards and goalkeeper coach Henrique Hiilario, because the opportunity to work under new manager Thomas Tuchel was too good to turn down.
Elsewhere, Hungarian Zsolt Low, who played under Tuchel at Mainz and was on his staff at PSG, comes in as assistant, as does long-time lieutenant Arno Michels.
Benjamin Weber comes in in a data analytics role. Edwards stays on, but two of Lampard’s other assistants, Jody Morris and Chris Jones, have departed along with the former England midfielder.