According to information from many respected sources, Antonio Rüdiger, who’s on his last year of contract with European Champions from England, might leave the team. Although both sides would like to extend the agreement, the situation at Stamford Bridge is turbulent now. They are very far from the amount of the new contract.
The Rüdiger situation
Meanwhile, almost all the superclubs in Europe enter the competition for the German defender. As per rumours, Juventus, Real Madrid, Juventus, and PSG have already made their offers. After all, almost each of these teams would not mind strengthening their defensive line. Gambling sites like Sportsbetio, with a review available here, have already added betting options for the players future.
Salary remains one of the main stumbling blocks for Chelsea. Londoners are ready to offer about €180 000 per week, while other clubs are not against the idea of €350 000. The bigger salary for Rüdiger is better since it might become the last contract for the 28-year old professional player.
In case the German leaves the team, who can replace the defender for Chelsea? Let’s check if the London club will use its reserves and their potential purchases.
Reserves
The most distant player from the main squad at the moment remains Malang Sarr. Chelsea bought the 22-year-old Frenchman of Senegalese descent in the summer of 2020. His transfer was the most inconspicuous in that window for the club since the Londoners also signed Timo Werner, Thiago Silva, Kai Havertz, and others.
After a year on loan at Porto, where he started at 14 games, Sarr came back. Defender performed well in recent Carabao Cup success over Aston Villa. Unfortunately, even this hardly gives him a direct path to a Thomas Tuchel starting three defenders.
Even assuming that Antonio Rüdiger leaves the team and Thiago Silva will continue to be injured so often, Sarr remains the squad’s fourth option after Christensen, Azpilicueta, and Chalobah. The last one, who’s also 22-year-old, is a Chelsea academy product from English of Sierra Leonean descent. Chalobah is 6.3 ft, while Sarr is 6.0, which is a significant advantage for a defender, who can be more effective on the corners.
Chalobah has shown his skill to the Chelsea manager, Thomas Tuchel, during the pre-season and calmly waited for a chance. Now the coach is sure to trust him the position on the right in the three of defenders. Chalobah starts in the main squad for almost every Premier League game. He plays even though Thomas Tuchel loves to change the athletes and give some of them some time to rest before important matches.
Potential signings
The main target in defense for Chelsea has been Jules Kunde of Sevilla. The media previously reported minor price disagreements between two clubs that were possible to settle. Now the situation is much worse.
The President of Sevilla Football Club words hints that the player would be impossible to buy. In the statement, he said that they choose ambition and the plans to build the future instead of cashing out current opportunities. The Spanish team is experiencing some of the best times in recent memory and is fighting for the local title. They are in third place in La Liga with excellent chances of going up to first.
After the failure of this deal, Chelsea considers itself a primary target for the extension of four defenders, who are in the last year of contracts: Christensen, Rüdiger, Azpilicueta, and Silva.
