Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel's U-turn made clear following Saul Niguez hint

Thomas Tuchel appears to have gone full circle on Chelsea loan star Saul Niguez.

The diminutive midfielder had a difficult start to life at Stamford Bridge after completing his temporary move from Atletico Madrid on deadline day.

Chelseastruck a deal with the Spanish club to loan Niguez till the end of the season, with an option-to-buy clause inserted to the tune of £30million should they wish to make the arrangement permanent.

It was seen as a real coup for the Blues, but Niguez's debut less than a fortnight later couldn't have gone much worse.

After dragging Niguez off at half-time in the win over Aston Villa, Tuchel admitted: "It was a hard decision but I had the feeling he struggled.

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"There were some big mistakes, passing mistakes, easy ball losses which is very unusual for him. He struggled with the intensity. You could see he isn't fully adapted."

There's no real shame in a foreign import struggling to find his feet in the hustle and bustle of the Premier League, but Tuchel's subsequent admissions on Niguez suggested the move was not going according to plan.

The Chelsea boss conceded he had "hesitated" to put Niguez on in another league match a few weeks later, and he made the Spain international wait until December for his second league start.

That panned out little better than his nightmare debut, with Tuchel again hauling him off at the break in the clash vs Watford.

Speaking after the game at Vicarage Road, Tuchel assessed Niguez's performance and admitted he "doesn't know where he goes from here."

The concerning statement left Niguez fighting a tough battle to resurrect his already brief Chelsea career, but how quickly fortunes can change.

He was instrumental in Chelsea's 2-0 win over Tottenham in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg last week, with Tuchel hailing his midfielder for making a "huge step" in his adaption to the English game.

Niguez followed that up with a good performance at the weekend, albeit in a 5-1 drubbing of National League side Chesterfield in the FA Cup.

But it seems he has worked his way back into Tuchel's plans, possibly even for the long term, as the Blues' boss hailed Niguez's recent development.

"I think he will be an important player for us and I hope so as well," Tuchel told Chelsea's website. "The game against Tottenham was a huge step forward for Saul and he showed what he can do with his abilities.

"Against Chesterfield he was part of a strong squad. Okay, it was against a fifth division side so there was no need for us to be overran in midfield but he still did well with his performance.

"I see more confidence in him with each game, he is in good shape and his adaptation to the way we play has gone further from before.

"You can see this in his game now. He is more open, he understands the language better now and these are all important things to consider when talking about Saul and how much he has improved recently."

Tuchel added: "He is having much more impact on games than he was doing at the beginning of the season and this is very important because I'm convinced we will need every player to compete in every competition from now until the end of the season, especially at the moment where we are playing every three days."