Chelsea must hone in on Antonio Rudiger as Thomas Tuchel defensive plan crashes
Chelsea already missed out on a defender during the summer and could lose Antonio Rudiger for free, which would be a major problem from Thomas Tuchel’s plans moving forward
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Chelsea must convince Antonio Rudiger to sign a new deal at the club following the uncertainty over the future of their main transfer target.
Rudiger has transformed into one of the Premier League’s best defenders since Thomas Tuchel took charge at Stamford Bridge, but Chelsea risk losing the defender next summer.
The German international is already into the final year of his contract and could leave the club for free if Rudiger does not sign a new deal, meaning Chelsea must do all that they can to keep hold of the 28-year-old.
Re-signing Rudiger is now even more crucial, after one of their main defensive targets admitted he is concentrating on his current side.
Chelsea have been excellent defensively this season, and have only conceded two goals in six Premier League games as Tuchel’s resilient style of play continues to be difficult to break down.
A huge part of Chelsea’s success since Frank Lampard was replaced as manager has been Rudiger, and the Blues are reportedly extremely keen on getting the German to sign a new deal.
During the recent summer transfer window Chelsea completed the £97.5million signing of Romelu Lukaku to spearhead their attack, and Saul Niguez joined on loan from Atletico Madrid, but Tuchel missed out on one signing as a deal for Sevilla’s Jules Kounde fell through.
The French defender was on the verge of completing the move but Sevilla then demanded Chelsea paid Kounde’s £68m release clause, so the deal collapsed.
Should Chelsea still sign Jules Kounde? Comment below
Chelsea had already let Kurt Zouma leave the club in the hope that Kounde would sign, but now they risk seeing Rudiger also leave without any replacement.
Kounde has also dealt Chelsea a huge blow by suggesting that he is comfortable in Seville, as he revealed today: “We all know it was a lively summer. Now it is over.
“I am concentrating on the team, on what I have to do. The team needs me and I need the team to perform at our best.
“At the moment, I am happy with the results, with how I am playing, though I have a lot of room to improve and to have a more complete season than last season.”
Kounde certainly looks to have a bright future, but Chelsea have a world-class defender in their side already and should focus their attention to re-signing Rudiger as apposed to signing a new star who is unproven at Premier League level.
Chelsea have the capacity to pull off both deals, but keeping hold of Rudiger is crucial and they’ve even been handed a boost as Bayern Munich sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic has said that his side do not need to sign a new defender following their repeated links to the Blues centre-back.
Salihamidzic said: “We are really well filled in the centre-back position. We have strengthened ourselves very well and brought in a top player in Dayot Upamecano, Lucas Hernandez is here, Tanguy Nianzou is there, Benjamin Pavard can also play inside – we really are very, very well staffed.”
With Bayern potentially out of the equation, Chelsea should go all out in an attempt to get Rudiger to sign a new deal before it’s too late.
