Transfer News: Future of Chelsea star Antonio Rudiger in limbo after talks with Juventus stall
According to Corriere Torino (h/t Express), the future German centre-back Antonio Rudiger could be in limbo after claims of Italian giants Juventus reaching a deadlock in contract talks due to the player’s wage demands.
Rudiger is in the final year of his current contract with the Blues, and he is free to walk away after this season. That has seen several top European clubs add him to their radars for a potential move this summer.
Juventus are a club linked with the centre-back for quite some time now with the German said to be close to moving to Turin. However, the move could break down due to a disagreement on wage demands between the two parties. His ‘priority‘ remains to stay at Chelsea.
Juventus are not willing to pay what the 29-year-old is demanding and this could be a sticking point in the negotiations. If the Italian club pulls out of the running for Rudiger, then his future will become a subject of doubt once again.
Despite faltering in the past few weeks, Rudiger has been exceptional for the Blues since Thomas Tuchel came to Stamford Bridge and has undoubtedly been the backbone of Chelsea’s strong defence. It hardly comes as a surprise that a club like Juve want him this summer.
Could Chelsea give in?
Chelsea can’t offer any new deal to Rudiger until the transfer of ownership is complete. One would imagine that the club would want a player like the German defender in their ranks, given his contribution to Chelsea’s success in the past year and a half.
Chelsea also find themselves in a bit of a pickle with all the uncertainty surrounding the club as they are still operating on a special license and unable to renew contracts of players.
Losing Rudiger is not something the Blues will want especially when Andreas Christensen could also leave on a free this summer. Cesar Azpilicueta may have had an automatic extension of his contract by a year, but his exit still seems to be on the cards.
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It remains to be seen if the Blues relax their stance and decide to keep Rudiger at any cost, but first, they have an ownership crisis to solve. The new owners have a lot of decisions to make and keeping or letting Rudiger leave is probably one of the first ones they’ll have to make.
The thought of losing the ex-AS Roma man on a free is something that makes this ordeal even worse. A defender of his talent and age profile would have surely fetched a fair sum if he were on a longer contract.