Thomas Tuchel 'was sacked by Chelsea for off-field reasons and because the players lost respect for him' - according to an email from his ex-wife.
This was revealed at a hearing in Munich's district court following the split between Tuchel, 49, and his wife Sissi, 51, last year after 13 years of marriage.
German newspaper Bild report that Sissi, a former journalist for Suddeutsche Zeitung, received a call from England in which she was given the alleged reasons for his Chelsea sacking in September last year.
She was apparently told the Chelsea players had lost respect for the manager who led them to Champions League success in 2021. Mysterious 'off-field reasons' were also cited.
Tuchel is now planning to use a temporary injunction to prevent Sissi from disclosing the content of the message which she received in an email, Bild said.
At the time, differences of opinion between Tuchel and the new Chelsea ownership led by Todd Boehly, as well as poor results on the pitch, were given as the reasons for his dismissal.
Bild said they were unable to publish the wording of some of the claims in the email for legal reasons and neither Tuchel, who didn't attend the heading, or his ex-wife, who did, wished to comment.
The pair married in 2009 and had two daughters together. The Mail on Sunday revealed in April last year that the couple had split with Sissi beginning divorce proceedings.
The presiding judge said the Munich hearing was held behind closed doors 'because the highly personal area of life is touched on and the truthfulness of the statements is also disputed.'
Tuchel has not taken another managerial job in football since his sacking. He won 60 of his 100 games in charge of Chelsea, leading them to Champions League success when they defeated Manchester City 1-0 in Porto.
The Blues also won the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup under his command.0