Sky Sports names two Chelsea players most likely to move in the January transfer window

Add as preferred source on Google

Sky Sports have suggested that the two Chelsea players most likely to leave in the January transfer window are Antonio Rudiger and Kepa Arrizabalaga.

In their assessment of what each Premier League club needs to do in terms of incomings or outgoings, Sky felt that the Blues would be offloading excessive rather than welcoming in new players.

Rudiger and Arrizabalaga were put forward as the two main candidates to depart, as they have both struggled for game time.

The latter has been shy of confidence for some while following a string of shaky showings between the sticks, and faced the hammer blow as Frank Lampard brought in Edouard Mendy to replace him. His world’s most expensive goalkeeper tag has been seriously dented, with Chelsea unlikely to gain any profitable return on the £71 million spent on him in 2018 (Telegraph).

Rudiger meanwhile has made just six appearances this season, failing to disrupt the centre back partnership of Kurt Zouma and Thiago Silva. He became a regular for Chelsea towards the tail-end of 2019/20, starting in the FA Cup final, yet has fallen out of favour with Lampard as he looks to offload the German international.

Sky did not offer any possible destinations for the pair, however did include several other names who could be exiting out the Stamford Bridge door.

Marcos Alonso, another to have dropped down the pecking order, has been linked to a possible move to Atletico Madrid by the Independent, the team that his father featured for during the 80s.

Seria A giants Inter Milan and Juventus are said to have voiced interest in left-back Emerson (Sky), although the Italian has impressed during his cameo roles in place of Ben Chilwell.  

Talk over Olivier Giroud’s future continues to swirl, whilst Sky claim Bayern Munich’s pursuit of Callum Hudson-Odoi has apparently not simmered.

Chronicle View

I feel the departure of Rudiger is far more likely than that of Arrizabalaga.

Kepa has shown very little to suitors as to why they should take a punt on him, and to sell him for a cut-price would certainly not please Roman Abramovich.

On the other hand, Rudiger has qualities that would make him a suitable signing for a big European team, and his place at Chelsea has suffered more from injury than through his actions on the field.