Tuchel Finally Speak out on Chelsea Contract Frustrations, Clear On Difficult Situation For Key Stars

Thomas Tuchel has acknowledged he would prefer that Chelsea’s numerous contract situations were resolved sooner but said that the situation with Cesar Azpilicueta is clear.

Chelsea entered the season with Thiago Silva, Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Azpilicueta all in the final year of their deals.

Since then, only Silva has extended his commitment to the club, while the others have been able to discuss their futures with other clubs since January with just six months remaining on their deals.

Little has been resolved for the Blues defenders with discussions ongoing, in the hope of coming to an agreement.

Rudiger noted of his situation: “I think the way I play you can see that I’m happy here. But there are also other people who have to make decisions [about the future].”

Reports have suggested Blues have believed they are a close to a deal with Christensen only to find new demands, while the Dane was even dropped in an attempt to influence the deal.

Things have been more straight forward with Azpilicueta, who was reluctant to speak on his future ahead of the Club World Cup, with little in the way of discussions disclosed.

The Spaniard is thought to be considering a potential move to Barcelona, with the Catalan side perhaps more willing to offer a longer term deal to the veteran. It has been suggested Chelsea would give their captain their blessing in any decision he makes on his future.

Tuchel is nevertheless frustrated to have negotiations still to complete at this stage, but believes Azpilicueta’s stituation is clear.

He said: “The future of the players I like to be resolved normally immediately or not to even be in discussion. This is the ideal world. But we never live in an ideal world.

“I think the contract situation with Azpi is pretty clear. So there is not the biggest pressure on this subject.

“But as you know we have some other players with contractual situations which are not fully solved.

“This is not ideal but this is also nobody’s fault particularly. It can happen sometimes. At the moment we deal with it and Azpi deals with it very professionally and I don’t have to think that it affects any performance. We are on it behind closed doors.”

The 31-year-old has been almost everpresent for the Blues in Reece James’ absent and played a stellar role in Chelsea winning the Club World Cup.

Tuchel may have to be without his captain for the trip to Crystal Palace however.

The Blues boss said: “We have some doubts about Azpi, we need to check today. He felt a bit of discomfort in training the day before yesterday so we need to see him in the training.

“And to add, Timo Werner has caught a cold so it [the game] seems like it comes too early tomorrow.”