Antonio Rüdiger will leave Chelsea when his contract expires at the end of the season, with Real Madrid leading the race to sign the centre-back on a free transfer.
Chelsea made an unsuccessful attempt to tie Rüdiger down before the sanctions imposed on Roman Abramovich left the club unable to hand out contracts or sign new players. The Stamford Bridge club’s offer was worth more than £200,000 a week but the Germany international turned it down and is expected to make a decision on his next move soon. It is understood that Chelsea’s last attempt at talks with Rüdiger broke down after a request to the club for a large signing-on fee and agents fee for the player’s representatives made an agreement difficult to reach.
The prospect of Rüdiger leaving will be a major blow for Thomas Tuchel, who is already set to lose Andreas Christensen on a free transfer. Christensen is also out of contract and the Denmark centre-back is poised to join Barcelona at the end of the season.
The situation is likely to force Chelsea’s next owners to spend heavily on Tuchel’s defence this summer. The European champions were keen to keep Rüdiger, who has been one of their best performers this season, and have made several attempts to keep him. However, it has not been possible to agree fresh terms with the 29-year-old, who earns in the region of £90,000 a week, and Chelsea’s inability to act now has convinced Rüdiger to seek offers from elsewhere.
The former Roma defender has been able to talk to foreign clubs about a pre-contract agreement since 1 January. Rüdiger’s representatives have held talks with Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain, but Madrid are believed to be favourites. Madrid’s manager Carlo Ancelotti is a fan of Rüdiger and has asked the Spanish club’s hierarchy to sign him.
Manchester United are also thought to be monitoring the situation.
Rüdiger, who will be absent with a groin injury when Chelsea host West Ham tomorrow afternoon, could be followed out of the door by César Azpilicueta. Barcelona remain interested in Azpilicueta despite the Chelsea captain triggering a one-year extension to his contract by reaching a set number of appearances earlier this season.
The uncertainty hanging over their defence increases Chelsea’s need for their takeover to go through soon. The three bidders hoping to buy Chelsea from Abramovich could find out who has been selected as the club’s preferred bidder this week.
If Azpilicueta, Christensen and Rüdiger depart then Tuchel will be left with Thiago Silva, Malang Sarr and Trevoh Chalobah as the only centre-backs in his squad. There will be high hopes for Levi Colwill, 19, who has impressed on loan at Huddersfield. But Chelsea, who sold Fikayo Tomori, Marc Guéhi and Kurt Zouma last summer, will need to spend and could revive their interest in Sevilla’s Jules Koundé.
It will be fascinating to see if Chelsea continue to spend heavily under new ownership. They have targeted Declan Rice, who has rejected West Ham’s latest contract offer, but even Abramovich might have been put off by the midfielder’s £150m valuation.
“Maybe he is out of our league if we don’t have the crisis,” Tuchel said. “That can be when you hear the numbers that are floating around. As you know, we generally don’t speak about other players, when it comes to whether we are interested, not interested because we take care of the guys that we have here. And the situation gives me a slight advantage in that at the moment we cannot even think about buying or selling or doing whatever, so there is nothing to think about.”
