Chelsea sent warning by forward Timo Werner over contracts of defensive duo Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen
Speaking to Sky Sports (h/t Express), Chelsea striker Timo Werner has warned senior officials at the club that the squad would have ‘heavy hearts’ if defenders Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen are allowed to leave at the end of the season.
Both Rudiger and Christensen see their contracts expire in June in the coming summer, and Chelsea run the risk of losing them for free in the next transfer window. Into the final six months of their current Blues contracts, the players are now free to sign a pre-transfer agreement with a foreign club, which will allow them to move on a free transfer in the summer.
With no updates on either player’s contract negotiations in recent times, it now appears that they could leave London, despite pressure from the club to commit their futures to Chelsea. Werner has said that he wants both players to sign new terms with the club and would be very happy if they decided to stay beyond the summer.
“I’m not involved in the negotiations of these two players. I would be happy with both if they stayed here because they are very, very good defenders. We would give them away with a heavy heart if they left.”
Werner’s German teammate Rudiger has been Chelsea’s standout performer at the back this season, playing in all but one of the club’s Premier League games. He has been linked with a move to a few European heavyweights in the summer, with Bayern Munich, Barcelona, and Real Madrid sniffing around for the player’s signature.
A mass exodus on the way?
Danish international Andreas Christensen has also seen his stock rise over the years, now establishing himself in coach Thomas Tuchel‘s first-choice list of senior defenders along with Rudiger and club captain Cesar Azpilicueta. It is interesting to note that Azpilicueta himself is also out of contract in the summer, with Tuchel facing the awkward and difficult proposition of losing three of his best defenders in the same transfer window.
Tuchel’s defenders have given him headaches throughout this season, either with expiring contract situations or with injury and Covid concerns. Funnily enough, Christensen has played a part in both, missing the 1-0 defeat at Manchester City last weekend after testing positive for COVID-19. The defender has also made 13 appearances for the Blues this season, despite missing a significant part of the action through injury.
We will need to hope that the club is actively working behind the scenes to renew our defenders’ contracts, as we cannot afford to lose three of our best and most senior centre-backs in the same window due to the board’s inability to convince them of a future at Stamford Bridge. Though Tuchel has said he is confident of Rudiger staying beyond June, nothing can be taken for granted until an actual confirmation on the contract situation comes through.
It would hurt to see Rudiger leave in the summer given his performances for us since Tuchel took over, with the Germany international taking on a new lease of life with Tuchel’s arrival at Chelsea. The defender had a tough start to life at Stamford Bridge since his move from Roma in 2017, drawing criticism for his performances, but has since hit his best form for us this campaign. At 28, it would be in our best interest to keep the player as he is in the prime years of his career.
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Making up the list of potential exits in the summer are Christensen and Azpilicueta. While it is always tough to let go of a highly-rated player like Christensen, it would be devastating to see Azpilicueta leave the club. The Spaniard has been one of our longest-serving players and a serial winner at the club, captaining our side to trophies in the past few campaigns. We can only hope that the club works to tie up our best defenders to new contracts soon.
And Werner’s aforementioned comments reflect the views of the fans as well. It also shows that the players are perhaps not completely up to date about their teammates’ futures at the club. Players come and go all the time, and life will go at Chelsea whether the trio leaves or not- but the transition would be a challenging phase. Replacing a couple of senior defenders, after all, is no easy task- that too with Thiago Silva also 37 at the moment.
