Chelsea player transfers have just taken a halt as the club faces a bigger crisis. This has led to uncertainty for the future of many players specially those whose contracts run out at the end of this season. Due to the sanctions on Chelsea by the UK Government, they can not renew any player contracts as of now, which as things stand, means that the players whose contract runs out by the end of the season, will have to leave the club. The one player whose departure might have the biggest impact is Antonio Rudiger.
It will be no doubt in calling Antonio Rudiger as Chelsea’s most improved player since the arrival of Thomas Tuchel. From a state of not even being considered as a bench player under Lampard, things took a major U-turn and he has now become one of the first players on the team sheet under Tuchel. And thus, Chelsea fans have been vocal in the German’s praise and even term him as one of the best center-backs in Europe right now. This has made him one of the hottest properties in the transfer market and thus him being linked to European giants like Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Juventus.
Rudiger’s contract at Chelsea runs out at the end of this season and thus news around him before the start of the season stated a lot about his possible move out but with the season progressing, the Chelsea board was convinced that they will rope up their star man. Even many credible resources stated that Rudiger was very close to putting ink to paper before the announcement of sanctions on Roman Abramovich and even had a verbal agreement with the board. His wages were the issue in initial talk breakdowns but now the club had negotiated a reasonable wage offer but only to being unlucky to not officialize it before the sanctions.
Now a bubble of uncertainty looms over the German and thus many teams have their eyes set on the defender. Some reports in Italy state that Juventus have agreed on a 4-year deal with the defender and thus the German will be on a flight to Turin come the next season.
This move could be a very big scoop for the Italian giants who are recently being criticized for their poor defending, something they have not being associated with often. This saw Juventus take a thrashing defeat in the last 16s of the Champions League and just marginalizing a place on the top 4 of Serie A this season. This has come as an alarm and thus Juventus prioritizing Rudiger makes all the more sense.
With Dybala leaving, they certainly can manage the wages and a move for Rudiger just could make Juventus’ summer transfer window look better than their winter transfer window which in itself was a special one.
However, Chelsea fans still believe that with the process of ownership change progressing swiftly, they can get Rudiger sign a new contract as this might be one of the very first things to happen under the new owners. Nothing official has come from Rudiger or his representatives and thus chances of him staying still say put.
Thomas Tuchel has been vocal about his admiration of the player and would love to build up his team alongside him. He would be more than happy if the German signs a new contract and can at least be levied off this pressure entering a new era at Chelsea.
