Chelsea FC are still holding talks with Antonio Rudiger about a new contract at Stamford Bridge, according to Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano.
The Germany international has played a key part in Chelsea FC’s promising start to the 2021-22 Premier League season, helping them to build a one-point lead at the top of the table.
Rudiger has started all seven of their Premier League fixtures despite finding himself out of favour under Thomas Tuchel’s predecessor Frank Lampard last term.
The German head coach’s arrival at the south west London side has sparked a revival of Rudiger’s stalling Blues career. However, the 28-year-old’s future at Chelsea FC is far from certain given that the former Stuttgart defender’s current deal will expire at the end of the 2021-22 season.
Rudiger has been linked with a move to Chelsea FC’s bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur as well as PSG in recent transfer windows but the German centre-half has stayed put.
Respected Italian transfer reporter Romano has now revealed that talks between Rudiger and Chelsea FC are ongoing despite time running out for the two parties to find an agreement.
“With Rudiger nothing has changed yet,” Romano said on the Here We Go Podcast on Tuesday.
“There are still talks with Chelsea but they haven’t agreed a new salary. So let’s see if they’ll be able to do it in the coming days or weeks. At the moment, they haven’t been able to do it.
“Chelsea are still talking to Rudiger – the talks haven’t collapsed.”
Rudiger has scored eight goals in 159 games in the past five seasons at Chelsea FC since his £29m move from Italian side AS Roma in 2017.
Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand hailed Rudiger as one of the Premier League’s best three defenders earlier this season.
“I think [Antonio] Rudiger, since he’s been playing, has probably been [the] second or third best centre-half after [Ruben] Dias and maybe [John] Stones, [Harry] Maguire,” Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel.
“He’s around the bottom of that group. He’s been brilliant since the new manager has come in.”