Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has had his say on the club’s potentially losing a few key defenders, including Cesar Azpilicueta, at the end of the season.
The 32-year-old is one of the three Blues defenders, alongside Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen, whose contracts expire at the end of the season.
Each of these defenders, to different degrees, has played a big role in the club’s recent success.
Azpilicueta, in particular, is an important figure on and off the pitch as he showcased in last week’s Club World Cup final.
Tuchel has relatively been quiet regarding these contract situations, but he is clearly concerned about losing his key players, having described the contract situations as “not ideal”.
“Well the future of the players I like to be resolved normally immediately or not even in discussion, in the ideal world,” the German said in Friday’s press conference (via Chelsea’s official website)
“We do not live in the ideal world, though, so I think the contract situation with Azpi is pretty clear.
“It is not the biggest pressure on this subject but as you know, we have some other players also with contractual situations that are not fully solved.
“This is not ideal. This is also nobody’s particular fault.
“This can happen sometimes in the moment we deal with it, and Azpi deals with it very professionally, and I do not have the feeling that it affects any of his performances.
“We are on it behind closed doors. This is where it needs to be dealt with.”
Obviously, Azpilicueta and the other two defenders may still end up extending their deals and continue to be key members of Tuchel’s squad next season.
However, Chelsea are not exactly in a strong negotiation position and recent reports suggest that other European top clubs are prepared to offer lucrative deals to these soon-to-be free agents.
Although, at least, as Tuchel pointed out, the contract situation does not affect the Spain international’s performances.
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