Chelsea

Chelsea

Premier League • England

‘I’m happy here’ – Key Chelsea man relaxed about future amid exit rumours

Antonio Rudiger and Thiago Silva of Chelsea

An important Chelsea defender has revealed he is ‘happy’ at Stamford Bridge as rumours continue to swirl over his future.

Thomas Tuchel’s backline has been pivotal to his success since taking over in January. He has installed a confidence which means few teams can split the defence open at will.

Chelsea have the best defensive record in the Premier League after nine rounds of matches. Only three goals have been scored against them.

Tuchel likes to operate with a back three and attacking wing-backs. The central positions are often filled by Antonio Rudiger, Thiago Silva and Andreas Christensen.

The trio have formed an excellent partnership which is rarely breached. If one of them is injured then either Cesar Azpilicueta or Trevor Chalobah can effectively fill in. 22-year-old Malang Sarr is emerging into the first team too.

However, the Blues need to sort out their defence’s long-term future. Rudiger, Silva and Christensen are all out of contract in June, as well as Azpilicueta.

Talks have begun with all four stars but are yet to result in a breakthrough.

Germany international Rudiger has now spoken about the discussions. During an interview with The Guardian, he said: “The most important thing is that I feel happy here. I think if people look at it, they can see I’m happy.

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“About the contract situation, I talk with the club. This is for nobody’s ears. It was how I said it would be after the Euros – there would be talks. There was a talk between [Chelsea director] Marina Granovskaia and my agent.

“We have the situation where we are at now and I have nothing to do with all the speculation. This is not in my mind.”

The 28-year-old is of interest to Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. They are preparing contract offers, should the defender fail to agree an extension in west London.

Rudiger was also quizzed on his vast improvement under Tuchel. “It’s about structure,” he said. “This what I have to give full credit to the manager for. Sometimes it’s a back three, but sometimes I end up pressing up front, so all of a sudden it’s a not a back three, it’s a back four. It’s an odd way of his! But we concede less, which is good.”


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Chelsea ace gives Tuchel ‘pure joy’

Meanwhile, Tuchel says it is a ‘pure joy’ to work with Mateo Kovacic. The midfielder bagged two assists as Chelsea thrashed Norwich City 7-0 last time out.

He has played an important part in the Blues’ lightning fast start to the campaign. However, the Croat will now miss the next few matches through injury.

“Now that you remind me, sorry that I forgot, we had very sad news yesterday after training that he suffers from a hamstring injury and he will be out for some weeks,” Tuchel said.

On Kovacic’s talent, Tuchel continued: “He is such a fantastic guy. I was a huge fan of him when he played for Real Madrid. I told him straight away, I remembered watching Clasicos with him and I saw such big potential.

“When I met him, he was friendly, humble and a guy with such a big heart for football. It is a pure joy to be his coach.”

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