The news that a deal had been reached between Chelsea for Leeds winger Raphinha startled many people on Twitter, especially shell-shocked Arsenal supporters who had believed the Brazilian would show up at London Colney given the likelihood that his countryman Gabriel Jesus would sign with the Gunners.
Raphinha is a genuine wide player, an attacking maverick who Tuchel hopes can rouse spectators from their seats and inject more creativity into a position that received a lot of flak the previous season.
While Sterling will start from left as he has typically played from the left for Manchester City and England, Mount and Raphinha would likely compete for the right-hand position. Kai Havertz is most likely to fill the centre-forward position now that Romelu Lukaku has returned to Inter Milan on loan, as he did for parts of last season and demonstrated his potential to be a reliable supplier of goals and creativity.
Mount could return to a deeper midfield position under Tuchel, if Tuchel deviates from the preferred formation, as he frequently did under Frank Lampard and on a few times for Tuchel.
Raphinha would then be able to play the wide position that he primarily filled at Leeds while playing in a 4-1-4-1 formation under Marcelo Bielsa and other permutations under Jesse Marsch. Additionally, it would allow the other Chelsea attackers to play more minutes during the season.