Chelsea are reportedly hoping to cash in on Antonio Rudiger and Fikayo Tomori in the January transfer window.
According to a report by ESPN, Chelsea are keen on offloading two centre-backs this winter. The Premier League heavyweights will be open to offers for Antonio Rudiger and Fikayo Tomori, with Frank Lampard eager to reduce the size of his squad in the January transfer window.
Rudiger joined Chelsea from AS Roma in the summer of 2017 and has since been a regular member of the first-team setup. However, his stock has steadily fallen since the appointment of Frank Lampard as the Chelsea boss. Things have reached a head early into the 2020/21 season.
Rudiger was deemed surplus to requirements in the summer transfer window and Chelsea were keen on parting ways with him till the final hours of window. However, they were unable to offload the German international, who continues to remain a backup option and has turned out just thrice this season.
Tomori’s fortunes, though, have been worse, with the 22-year-old starting just two games thus far. The English international had enjoyed a breakthrough campaign in 2019/20 upon returning from a loan spell at Derby County. However, like Rudiger and Andreas Christensen, Tomori has suffered from the fact that Thiago Silva and Kurt Zouma have forged a solid central defensive partnership.
Everton had been interested in snapping Tomori up on loan from Chelsea in the summer before a move failed to materialise. The Toffees have since signed Ben Godfrey from Norwich City and might not be looking to add another central defender to their squad.
As for Rudiger, he has been linked with a shock move to Barcelona and might be the easier of the two centre-backs to offload. Lampard, though, wants to part ways with both Rudiger and Tomori this January in order to reduce the size of his squad.
Selling both the defenders would also enable Chelsea to make room for a replacement, seeing as they have been linked with a number of centre-backs including Alessio Romagnoli. For now, though, it appears as if the priority is to cash in on Rudiger and Tomori.
What now remains to be seen is if Chelsea can attract any suitors for the two defenders by the time the January transfer window opens. The intermediaries have been made aware of the duo’s availability and we might be seeing the last of Rudiger and Tomori at Chelsea soon.
He is a good back up, keep him, Rudiger