Chelsea facing late pressure from Barcelona and AC Milan for defender | OneFootball

Chelsea is facing somewhat of a contract crisis.

The Blues, led by highly-rated German manager Thomas Tuchel, are close to seeing at least three first-team defenders leave the club at the end of the season, for free.

Veteran wide centre-back Cesar Azpilicueta is out of contract in six months time, as is Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen.

Both Azpilicueta and Rudiger have recently been linked with moves away – with the representatives of the latter understood to have recently held talks with Spanish side Real Madrid (Independent).

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However, while the future of Azpilicueta is still unknown, the latest in the trio of impending expired contracts comes from leading transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano, who has claimed the Blues have been contacted by both Barcelona and AC Milan for Christensen.

Although it has also been noted that both European clubs feel the player will end up signing on the dotted line with Chelsea, the player has yet to do so and until he does, there will be much anxiety felt among the Londoner’s fanbase.

Facing the real possibility of losing several of their first-team defenders, the Blues now face a nervous wait to learn the fate of their soon-to-be out-of-contract trio.

When it comes to renewing their star’s deals though – time really is of the essence. Failure to extend the player’s deals before the January transfer window opens will see all defenders eligible to agree to a pre-contract with any club outside of England before eventually move at the end of the season on free transfers.