Fabrizio Romano claims Chelsea will terminate Cesar Azpilicueta’s contract
According to Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea are set to terminate Cesar Azpilicueta’s contract on mutual consent after the right-back is closing in on a move to Atletico Madrid. The transfer guru also revealed that the Spanish international will be unveiled in the coming days as an Atletico player.
The right-back joins those players who have been sold by Chelsea in order to trim down their bloated squad as Mauricio Pochettino takes charge of the squad for the first time next week.
The West Londoners have already offloaded a plethora of players and will hope to kick-start the signing of top targets they have identified in the summer window.
The 33-year-old will join Diego Simeone’s side as a free agent as the Blues will terminate his contract after the right-back spent 12 years at Stamford Bridge. He earlier turned down a move to Barcelona as Chelsea wanted the player to stay following Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen’s sales to Real Madrid and Barcelona, respectively.
Azpilicueta, who joined Chelsea from Marseille for £7 million, featured in over 500 appearances for the team in multiple positions across the backline. The right-back claimed Premier League titles, an FA Cup, a League Cup, a Club World Cup, two Europa Leagues, and a Champions League.
His leadership and winning attitude will be remembered on the pitch, as players like him who are fully devoted to a club during their insecurity are hard to find in modern sports. Now Blues will hope to find the next captain and it could be Thiago Silva as we know how good he is as a captain, another option could be Reece James.
It is reassuring to know that we have a backup for Azpilicueta as Malo Gusto, who was signed during the winter transfer window, is set to kick-start his Chelsea career next season. Azpilicueta, meanwhile, still possesses quality and will be a great complement to Simeone’s defensive football team.
He will also be able to play in the UEFA Champions League next season for a team in his homeland, where he could have a real shot at playing regularly. It seems like the ideal move for him after his move to Barcelona failed in the recent past.
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As for Atletico, they seem to be shrewd in their negotiations whereby they don’t have to pay transfer fees for unwanted Premier League stars. This January, they bought Matt Doherty from Tottenham Hotspur after his contract was also mutually terminated.