Football London
Paul Merson believes that Antonio Rudiger has already made his mind up on his Chelsea future ahead of January’s transfer window.
The German centre-back has been pivotal to the Blues’ recent success under Thomas Tuchel but is no closer to agreeing a deal to extend his stay at Stamford Bridge beyond June 2022.
It means that he can leave on a Bosman transfer in the coming months as Chelsea risk losing him for nothing despite him being one of the best central defenders in world football at present.
There’s still some optimism amongst some supporters that he’ll be wearing blue next season, but as Merson has suggested n his column for the Daily Star, him staying is looking more and more unlikely.
“Chelsea are going to miss Antonio Rudiger when he goes because it will take £60-70m to replace him,” he said.
“Rudiger is definitely leaving. If he wanted to sign a new contract he would have done it by now. There’s no chance he stays now…
