Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has hinted that the club are close to committing Andreas Christensen to a new long-term contract.
The Blues currently have four centre-backs in Christensen, Antonio Rudiger, Cesar Azpilicueta and Thiago Silva, whose contracts expire next summer.
They are prioritising new deals for Christensen and Rudiger, but the latter could be heading for the exit door amid big differences over the salary package.
In his press conference earlier today, Tuchel said that Christensen and the club want the ‘same thing’ and he expects ‘some good news’ in the coming days.
He told via football.london: “For Andreas, from my point of view, everybody wants the same thing. The coach wants the same thing, the club wants the same thing and the player wants the same thing.”
“Hopefully and obviously I expect some good news in the next days but every case is different.
“You can end up in situations like this but the situations are handled from all sides very carefully, very professionally, very calm and mature.
“During the process we can produce performances that we need to fulfill our goals and that’s the most important.”
Christensen was largely out-of-favour during the first half of last season under Frank Lampard, but his fortunes reversed after Tuchel took charge in January this year.
An injury to Silva against Tottenham Hotspur saw him break into Tuchel’s Premier League plans, and he has since played an integral role for the Blues in all competitions.
Despite the competition for places, the Denmark international has started in eight of the 11 league games this season while being ever-present in the Champions League.
At 25, he is in the prime of his career, and the Blues’ hierarchy will be hoping to find a resolution over his contract after hitting a roadblock in negotiations this summer.
The board believed they were close to securing an agreement, but agent demands and Christensen desire to sign a three-year deal, contributed to an unexpected impasse.
Judging by Tuchel’s response earlier today, it appears that the Blues are close to making a breakthrough. They would ideally want to extend his stay for five seasons.
