Chelsea boss Tuchel says losing skipper Azpilicueta to Barcelona ‘not ideal’ and hopes club talisman stays
- Defender believed to be seeking a new challenge after decade with Premier League side
- Manager Thomas Tuchel says skipper has earned the right to decide when and how he leaves
Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta looks set to leave the club for Barcelona in the summer, with Blues boss Thomas Tuchel acknowledging his talisman may need a new challenge.
Azpilicueta has won every major trophy during his 10 years with the team, and is likely to go down as one of the London club’s greats, but the Spanish giants are looking to lure him away on a two-year deal.
And the 32-year-old, whose contract was recently extended until next year, is believed to be ready to walk away, and if he does so the Spanish international would be the third defender expected to leave Chelsea after Germany’s Antonio Ruediger and Andreas Christensen of Denmark.
Tuchel said the two sides were still talking about Azpilicueta’s future, adding that losing his captain would not be “the ideal scenario”, but said winning the UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup had factored into the player’s thinking.
“We had a lot of these talks because I think it felt like he won everything after the Club World Cup so I can understand these thoughts, that maybe a cycle is at its end.
“Then there’s also a change of ownership and he played only under this owner so maybe it increased his second thoughts about his situation.
“I would hope strongly [that he stays] and he knows this but we are still in the talks to find out the ideal solution.”
Chelsea are unable to sign new players because of the sanctions imposed by the British government on Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich, who put the club up for sale after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
There is no immediate pressure on Chelsea to let the defender leave in the next transfer window either, given his deal runs until March next year, but Chelsea have a history of allowing long-serving players depart on their own terms.
And Tuchel said that his captain had “earned the right” to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Petr Cech and Didier Drogba.
