Chelsea are facing the prospect of losing three key defenders at the end of the season in Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Cesar Azpilicueta but Thomas Tuchel has backed the club over contract negotiations.
The start of this season saw Thiago Silva in the final year of his deal, in addition to the aforementioned trio, but the Brazilian extended his contract by a further season.
Rudiger has made more appearances than any other Chelsea player other than Mason Mount with 33, while Azpilicueta has recorded 29 and Christensen 22. It is unavoidable to consider the players as crucial to Tuchel's starting XI this season and in an ideal world the former Borussia Dortmund boss would probably hope to not be losing any, never mind all of them.
However, while it may be easy to suggest the Blues were not proactive enough in starting negotiations, the fact that neither Rudiger or Christensen were guaranteed a place at the club shortly before Tuchel's arrival certainly complicated matters.
The German coach has great affection for his players, but acknowledges life at Chelsea will move on if they have to leave.
“I love all these players, I love this group, and we are fighting hard," said Tuchel, "but at some point I have to calm my mind down to not enter into all the negative scenarios.
“It can also happen that we sign them [to new contracts] both and they have two big injuries in pre-season? What do we do then? Do we stop? Or what happens if have big injuries in the first match or the third match and they are out for weeks, for months, what do we do then? Do we stop playing? No, then we need to have another solution, like it or not, and this is it.
“In the end, there’s a club policy that we all need to follow and that also as a manager I can absolutely understand. There are always two, three, four sides to these kind of situations. It is not only about player and club, it’s the coach, sporting situations, agents, families, there are lot of things involved.
“There are a lot of opinions and maybe at some point, it will end that a player leaves, and it will not be the first or last player to leave the club. We should not take it personally, we should accept that we fought hard, and take it and look for the next solution. It is not easy, of course.”
Christensen is reported to be close to a move to Barcelona, while Rudiger has drawn attention from the likes of Real Madrid, PSG and Bayern Munich.
The calibre of team shows not only the standard of the players but also that very few teams are perhaps able to tempt stars away from the Blues.
Tuchel believes that Chelsea are right to be strong in their convictions over the money they offer players and how it could impact the wage structure of the club.
He added: “First of all I think that Chelsea pay also very good money. And if players these days run out of contract, there is sometimes a package of money that we cannot match. And if we match it it has an effect on every other player.
“Some have agents who have other players and then they know and I think we should be strong on it and I think there is a part of Chelsea to have a certain policy and some guidelines what it takes and what it needs to be a Chelsea player and what you can earn from it and what is being demanded.
“The club provides a lot of support, it provided security during Covid financially. We should not forget it. The structure and organisation and what is provided for families, for your environment is simply exceptional. I don’t think there are a lot of upgrades out there."
