It looks like Chelsea have missed an opportunity to sign a replacement for Antonio Rudiger this summer, without spending any money.
The German international was announced as a new Real Madrid player last week, and he isn’t the only defender expected to be leaving Stamford Bridge this transfer window.
Chelsea are growing in confidence of signing Ousmane Dembele this summer.
Chelsea have some work to do, and due to the fact that we will probably have to buy more than one new defender this summer, I expected to see some free agent options popping up. And it looks like Chelsea were working on a player who would have been exactly that.
According to Sky Germany, as reported below, Chelsea had concrete talks and were interested in signing RB Leipzig’s Marcel Halstenberg as a free agent. But the player has decided to stay and extend with Leipzig.
Sky info: German national Player Marcel Halstenberg will extend his contract @RBLeipzig today. 2 more years. @ChelseaFC was interest in signing the free agent during the last weeks. There were concrete talks with Chelsea. But: Halstenberg stays @RBLeipzig @SkySportDE
— Marc Behrenbeck (@Sky_Marc) June 6, 2022
The 30-year-old can play at left back and centre back, making him ideal to replace Rudiger. Looks like that ship has sailed now though.
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