Antonio Rudiger headed to Liverpool?
Football is an unpredictable sport – and the dynamics inside teams, between teams, and leagues can also be pretty unpredictable. This is what we love about football, the very thing that makes online football betting such a fun thing to do. And this is also how it’s possible that, even though Tuchel made it clear just a few weeks ago that Rudiger is “fully committed” to Chelsea, today we hear that he might be leaving Stamford Bridge next summer, and end up playing for Liverpool.
Rudiger out
Rudiger joined Chelsea in a transfer worth £29 million in the summer of 2017, signing a five-year contract at the time. He has played in 110 games with the club ever since, even scoring eight times in the process – he scored a double in his 100th appearance with the club, in a match against Leicester City.
Rudiger’s contract expires next summer, and at this point, he doesn’t seem committed to staying at Stamford Bridge. The first media reports about him leaving Chelsea emerged earlier this fall, along with news about several Premier League teams, including Manchester City, keeping an eye on his situation.
A lorryload of money
Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson seems to know more about Rudiger’s situation than the rest of the world. In his column in the Daily Star, he treats the German international’s departure from Stamford Bridge as a fact. “If he wanted to sign a new contract he would have done it by now,” he writes. “There’s no chance he stays now”.
Rudiger will be sorely missed over at Chelsea for multiple reasons. One of them will be the fee the club will have to pay for an appropriate replacement, which Merson estimates will set them back around £60-70 million. He points out that Rudiger’s departure is not Tuchel’s fault – it was Frank Lampard who sidelined the talented defender, and it was Tuchel who brought him back on the pitch. Rudiger hasn’t forgotten, Merson writes, even though he has been “phenomenal” since returning to the turf.
Once he decides to leave, Rudiger will have an abundance of offers to choose from, and, as Merson puts it, there will be one who will be willing to pay “a lorryload of money” to have him. After all, he spent the season being one of the top players at Chelsea.
Where to?
Well, Liverpool would most likely be down to sign him next summer. Klopp may have a few options in the Reds’ defence, but he might be left without at least a couple of them – Gomez, for example, has repeatedly been rumoured to be leaving for Aston Villa, perhaps as early as January.
But the Reds are not the only likely destination for him. Pundits have pointed out that aside from Man City, a series of other high-profile European clubs are also lining up to sign him, including Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
