Chelsea are facing an exodus of defenders this January, with two lynchpins asking to leave the club.
Speaking on the Transfer Window podcast, transfer guru Ian McGarry has claimed that both captain Cesar Azpilicueta and left-back Marcos Alonso have asked their agents to find them new teams.
Azpilicueta is now in his tenth year at Stamford Bridge and approaching the completion of his contract in the summer. The 32-year-old has lost his place at right-wing-back this season with the emergence of Reece James – but is still a revered player and a good option in the centre of defence.
Fellow Spaniard Alonso, however, has been a key figure over the years for the Blues, having been critical to Antonio Conte's title-winning team in 2016/17, Maurizio Sarri's Europa League win in 2018/19 and forcing his way back into the Stamford Bridge set-up under Tuchel.
The news will come as a blow to Tuchel, who is already facing a depleted backline.
England full-back Ben Chilwell has been sidelined for the foreseeable future, leaving Alonso and loanee Saul Niguez as his options on the left. With Saul hugely underwhelming of late – and plenty of goals coming from the wing-backs this season – Tuchel would much rather not have to sign another player in January to aid the title charge.
Antonio Rudiger is looking set to leave for Real Madrid, with the German's contract expiring in the summer, while Andreas Christensen is available for nothing in 2022, too. Thiago Silva is 37 and rumours are linking the Brazilian with a move back to Fluminense at the end of the season.
Chelsea are reportedly set to sign 'The Hungarian van Dijk' at least, Attila Szalai – who has attracted the attention of Real Madrid, Arsenal, Atlético Madrid, Bayern Munich and Liverpool over the past few months.
That should fix the lefthand side of the defence, while Jules Kounde of Sevilla is heavily rumoured for the right. Matthijs De Ligt has also been floated as an idea – while Chelsea have plenty of ex-academy stars that they could potentially exercise buy-back clauses on.
Fikayo Tomori was sold permanently to AC Milan, with the England star not getting a chance to impress Tuchel before he went. He could yet return to England, should Chelsea wish to bring him back – and would fit in nicely. Valentino Livramento of Southampton is another star who has excelled this season at right-back – and he could be brought back to compete for a spot with Reece James, as could Brighton star Tariq Lamptey, who was sold for just £4m in January 2020.
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