Barcelona are attempting to sign the entire Chelsea defence that won the Champions League last year after the Catalan club entered the race to land Antonio Rüdiger.
Club executives were already confident of signing Andreas Christensen, who becomes a free agent in the summer, and had been working on convincing César Azpilicueta, the Chelsea captain, to move to the Nou Camp.
But the La Liga giants have also set their sights on Rüdiger, the Germany centre back who finished the game alongside Azpilicueta and Christensen — a first-half substitute for Thiago Silva — in the Chelsea back three that won the Champions League final against Manchester City last year.
Rüdiger, 29, is out of contract in the summer and talks with Chelsea over extending his deal stalled when Russia invaded Ukraine. Sanctions subsequently placed on Roman Abramovich, the Russian owner of Chelsea, prevent the club from negotiating any contracts or signing new players.
Sahr Senesie, Rüdiger’s agent and half-brother, met Mateu Alemany, Barcelona’s director of football, and the club’s adviser Jordi Cruyff on Wednesday night in Catalonia. The Times understands that Rüdiger is yet to make a decision over his future but the developments indicate that he expects to leave the club at the end of the season.
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Real Madrid are believed to have made the highest offer to Rüdiger, who wants a contract worth about £200,000 a week. Barcelona and Juventus are not expected to meet those demands.
Barcelona believe that they have already secured the signing of Christensen, 25, but Bayern Munich remain hopeful of convincing the Denmark defender to return to the Bundesliga, where he spent two seasons on loan with Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Azpilicueta has triggered a one-year extension to his Chelsea contract because of the amount of appearances he has made, but the 32-year-old defender is yet to make a decision on his future.
The Spain international, who has won every club trophy possible in his ten years at Stamford Bridge, has been seriously considering a return to La Liga and Barcelona’s offer of a two-year deal is attractive. He believes Chelsea would allow him to go with their blessing but is keen to delay talks until a new owner has been confirmed.
The battle to buy Chelsea, meanwhile, is intensifying, with opposition to the Ricketts family’s bid growing. A #NoToRicketts petition has more than 17,000 signatures and one online group is calling for a peaceful demonstration at Stamford Bridge tomorrow.
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The owners of the Chicago Cubs, who are backed by the billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, have come under fire because of Islamophobic remarks made by the head of the Ricketts family, Joe, in emails that surfaced in the US media in 2019.
Paul Canoville, Chelsea’s first black player, after whom a suite has been named at Stamford Bridge, has been particularly vocal in his opposition. Tom Ricketts, who is leading the bid, responded to the criticism by travelling to west London last week for meetings with Canoville as well as the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust and the Chelsea Pitch Owners plc.
However, rival bidding groups were angered by the fact that the US bank appointed to lead the search for a new owner contacted the Chelsea chairman, Bruce Buck, to organise the meeting between Canoville and Ricketts. Buck attended the talks at Stamford Bridge, although Chelsea insist that he did not participate.
At least two rival groups are said to be unhappy, given they were led to believe that there should be no contact with the Chelsea executive — Buck will be part of the process of selecting the preferred bidder, who will then be presented to the government next month — before authorised meetings that will be held next week.
Chelsea do not believe that Buck has in any way undermined the process.
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The perception that the Ricketts family have received preferential treatment from both Raine and Chelsea has nevertheless sparked further concern among some Chelsea fans, with one online group looking to arrange a protest at Stamford Gate at noon on Saturday, before the Brentford game.
One of the bidders, the Boston Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca, came under scrutiny in the House of Lords on Thursday, when Lord Peter Hain criticised Bain Capital, which the American co-chairs.
Lord Hain told the House of Lords: “As a Chelsea fan for 57 years, will the government ensure that no winning bid loads debt on the club like the Glazers did to Manchester United?
“Will ministers also bar the Pagliuca Consortium bid headed by the chair of Bain Capital which remains highly entwined with Bain & Company, recently indicted by a South African Judicial Commission for acting ‘unlawfully’ and referred for prosecution.
“Bain cynically and ruthlessly disabled the country’s tax collecting agency by conspiring with the corrupt former president Zuma for an £8million fee. Chelsea and the Premier League must not be contaminated with such despicably corrupt business practice.”
