Antonio Rudiger issues a positive statement on his Chelsea career amid contract discussion
According to Welt am Sonntag (h/t Metro), Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger has expressed how he perceives his transfer saga in a fresh statement.
Antonio Rudiger has matured into one of the best defenders in the league at Chelsea. His consistent form indicates Blues’ recent success because he played a big part in it. The former Roma player has helped keep six clean sheets in 10 games in the Premier League this season. He also put up a courageous defensive display in the UEFA Champions League final.
As much as his on-pitch display has become the talk of the town lately, his off-pitch renewal talks have become a focus of huge speculations. Despite serving the final year of his contract, he is yet to sign a contract extension.
It is believed that the dispute is over a demanded pay raise in wages. Even though the Blues offered him a substantial pay raise, the player’s representatives have demanded more than £200,000-a-week wages. But, the West London club is still not convinced to pay that much amount for his services.
The 28-year-old player would be eligible to talk with foreign clubs from January. In such a case, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain are all interested in approaching him in order to lure him for free the following summer.
Although the English clubs can’t engage in a talk with him till the next summer window, some of them are keeping an eye on the situation. It is believed that Manchester City and Tottenham are the interested parties.
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But it seems the player is aware of his speculations and offered a statement to clear some air. He stated that he is instead focused on the present than what will happen in the future.
“For now, I am only concentrating on what is happening right now. I owe that to the club, the coach and the team.”
When asked about a possibility to return to Germany, he said that his current focus is his current team but hasn’t completely ruled out a possibility.
“I’m currently only focused on Chelsea. We’ll see what happens.”
The German player is a significant asset to Chelsea’s backline and has proved his worth under challenging games. It would be a massive blow for Thomas Tuchel’s team if he chooses the exit door, and the situation would be much worse if he leaves for free.