Just 12 months ago Chelsea entered a new Premier League season with four central defenders having less than a year to run on their contracts. Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen saw conversations about the future dominate press conferences and ultimately left, Thiago Silva committed to another year at Stamford Bridge at the start of 2022, when some expected him to return to Brazil and for a moment in time it seemed that Cesar Azpilicueta had reached the natural end of his Blues' career.
As the months counted down, the Chelsea captain was available but saw his contract extended by a further year having met a clause for the number of games played. With the club up for sale, the prospect of new owners and under sanction, it was a rare opportunity of security for the Blues. Amidst uncertainty, Azpilicueta's professionalism would never be in doubt.
He said: "I've never been in the transfer market in 10 years, it was difficult. This time the contract was a bit different because I had the clause of games, for a period I was a free agent, who knew what could happen. I decided to stay silent to not speak in the media because there was already enough noise around and I didn't want to make it worse because I tried to stay focused.
