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.Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that defender Antonio Rüdiger will leave the club at the end of the season.
The German international is out of contract at the end of the season, but had been offered £200,000 a week to stay at Stamford Bridge to stay at Stamford Bridge. However, the signing-on fee and agent fees became a sticking point, and with the club still subject to government sanctions, negotiations were frozen on trying to resolve these issues.
Now Tuchel has to plan for next season, knowing that he needs to address the centre of his defence as an urgent issue. Andreas Christensen is headed to Barcelona, whilst Thiago Silva recently became the oldest outfield player to appear in the Premier League, and may also not be at the club next season.
Real Madrid now look like they are the favourites to sign Rüdiger although PSG also retain an interest.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.