Christensen and his father are being idiots right now.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2021/11/30/thomas-tuchel-issues-andreas-christensen-chelsea-contract-ultimatum/?utm_content=football&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1638311509

Some more information about the situation here. Basically we have made a concession over the contract length and offered Christensen the three years he wanted. But now they still don't want to sign that either and they have probably pissed both Tuchel and the club off.

Right move to bench him until he gets his act together in my view. I guess it leaves us in a spot of bother tonight as T.Silva needs rest a no others are near his or Christensens level in the middle there but we'll see what the manager can come up with.

 

Sometimes I feel that Tuchel is too honest and naive with the media... Him bringing this out in public serves no purpose to the team or AC . 

He could have even said that may be the contract talks was distracting AC but to say he is being dropped and blaming him for sending mixed messages is a tad bit low

Think it's a calculated risk by Tuchel, with the options we have Christensen is important, but not critical to the defence ( unlike Rudiger right now). If he's not signing, he will keep being benched, and may not get the huge offer he'd get if he's playing in week in week out. He's not injured, so pretty hard to tell a 'white lie' to cover the real reason.

1 hour ago, The Don Antonio said:

blaming him for sending mixed messages is a tad bit low

That's clearly excactly what he's doing though.

You can't string a club and manager along for sh*ts and giggles and expect to get away with it. The club have bent to his will so either he signs that contract now or he can enjoy his holidays until the summer.

At least Tuchel and the board seems to be completely on the same page here. That is great news.

Defence is something we need to take care of early as I feel that Tuchel and the club already plan the summer transfer window concentrating on at least one or two quality attacking players and a central midfielder as I personally feel we'll try to get rid of Werner and Ziyech at the end of the season.

Sorting this matter (Christensen & Rudiger) out early would make things go smoother in the summer and we'd save massive amounts of money, too and I feel it would be a mistake if both the club and the players would not come to an agreement. They are both in their prime and they are both important to the club, especially Rudiger who I feel that has become a Chelsea man on the pitch, he is first to put his head in a tackle, always up for a fight, always there to harass opposing players, never backs off from anything, we need this huge character both on and off the pitch!

27 minutes ago, Sindre said:

That's clearly excactly what he's doing though.

You can't string a club and manager along for sh*ts and giggles and expect to get away with it. The club have bent to his will so either he signs that contract now or he can enjoy his holidays until the summer.

At least Tuchel and the board seems to be completely on the same page here. That is great news.

"Don't cut your nose to spite your face" This serves absolutely no use to us . So if Silva and Rudiger go down injured we will play a back 3 of  Sarr Chalobah Azpi to prove a point? All we had to do was keep this indoors and figure it out. I am not a fan of airing ones laundry in public. This could be the downfall of Tuchel just like the Diego Costa incident was the downfall of Conte. Chelsea always finds a way to bring drama to the dressing room when there is no drama from outside

34 minutes ago, Sindre said:

That's clearly excactly what he's doing though.

You can't string a club and manager along for sh*ts and giggles and expect to get away with it. The club have bent to his will so either he signs that contract now or he can enjoy his holidays until the summer.

At least Tuchel and the board seems to be completely on the same page here. That is great news.

If you are going to take that stand though, you need to be uniform across the board. The Christensen situation only popped up in the last 3mths, Rudiger has been stringing the club along for 2 seasons. You can’t say you are benching one to influence his decision making, and keep playing the other one.

I can’t see this ending well, and I expect his team to put some word out to the media in that respect.

4 minutes ago, The Don Antonio said:

"Don't cut your nose to spite your face" This serves absolutely no use to us . So if Silva and Rudiger go down injured we will play a back 3 of  Sarr Chalobah Azpi to prove a point? All we had to do was keep this indoors and figure it out. I am not a fan of airing ones laundry in public. This could be the downfall of Tuchel just like the Diego Costa incident was the downfall of Conte. Chelsea always finds a way to bring drama to the dressing room when there is no drama from outside

Better than playing Christensen who for all we know may be signing a pre-contract with Manchester City or Liverpool on January 1st at this point. Would you prefer someone like that for the second half of the season?

Rudiger I think is different because he's been clear about his expectations for a while. If we decided to give him that he'd sign. For Christensen we have adjusted and bent to his will and demands and then he again shifts the goalposts. He's done that twice now and clearly Marina & Tuchel have had enough.

1 minute ago, Sindre said:

Better than playing Christensen who for all we know may be signing a pre-contract with Manchester City or Liverpool on January 1st at this point. Would you prefer someone like that for the second half of the season?

Rudiger I think is different because he's been clear about his expectations for a while. If we decided to give him that he'd sign. For Christensen we have adjusted and bent to his will and demands and then he again shifts the goalposts. He's done that twice now and clearly Marina & Tuchel have had enough.

I trust in Christensen's professionalism . It doesn't matter if he signs a pre contract with City in January the same way it doesn't matter if Rudiger signs a pre contract with Man utd in January  , besides they can only sign pre contracts in January with foreign clubs but that isn't the point. The point is that he is free to renege on any contract that hasn't been signed since he is in a position of power due to this being his last season. The major f**k up is from Chelsea letting both players contracts run till they are almost free agents before securing them. 

I just feel like as long as Christensen is on the pay roll then he should be free to play, you cant strong arm a player to sign a new contract especially when he is in a position of power. This is being badly played by Chelsea but I hope it works out well for us because it will work out well regardless for Christensen.  

Am I the only one a bit annoyed that these defenders get whacked in a back 3 to cover their weaknesses now think they’re worth £200k a week?

Yes Christensen and Rudiger have been class since Tuchel came in but put them in a back 4 and we’d be back to square one

10 minutes ago, The Don Antonio said:

I just feel like as long as Christensen is on the pay roll then he should be free to play, you cant strong arm a player to sign a new contract especially when he is in a position of power.

I don't see it that way. We've given him what he promised to sign on and now he's not doing that. So he's lied to his club and manager then in that case and then he should have absolutely no complaints about his current treatment. 

I am sure the situation can still be salvaged but the club isn't going to do more now. We've given him everything he wants (including three year contract). So it will be up to Christensen to be true to his word at this point.

The grass won't be greener on the other side for him. He's got the perfect manager for him and in my view he'd be stupid to leave.

2 minutes ago, Sindre said:

I don't see it that way. We've given him what he promised to sign on and now he's not doing that. So he's lied to his club and manager then in that case and then he should have absolutely no complaints about his current treatment. 

I am sure the situation can still be salvaged but the club isn't going to do more now. We've given him everything he wants (including three year contract). So it will be up to Christensen to be true to his word at this point.

The grass won't be greener on the other side for him. He's got the perfect manager for him and in my view he'd be stupid to leave.

I agree that it is stupid for him to want to leave especially with Thiago Silva's age but i have a feeling he wants to go to Barcelona to replace Pique who is ageing, besides La liga fits him perfectly since it isn't as physical as the premiership. I just hope this is the last time we let young players run down their contracts 

36 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

Am I the only one a bit annoyed that these defenders get whacked in a back 3 to cover their weaknesses now think they’re worth £200k a week?

Yes Christensen and Rudiger have been class since Tuchel came in but put them in a back 4 and we’d be back to square one

It's not just based on their ability but rather they are absorbing part of the cost it would take to replace them. Which is why Aaron Ramsey is on 400k a week at Juve.

43 minutes ago, Sindre said:

Better than playing Christensen who for all we know may be signing a pre-contract with Manchester City or Liverpool on January 1st at this point. Would you prefer someone like that for the second half of the season?

Rudiger I think is different because he's been clear about his expectations for a while. If we decided to give him that he'd sign. For Christensen we have adjusted and bent to his will and demands and then he again shifts the goalposts. He's done that twice now and clearly Marina & Tuchel have had enough.

No Rudiger hasn’t been clear, the £200+k/w only became a thing at the backend of the CL win. He has been stringing the club along since early last season when he lost his place to Thiago in a back 4. He held out on signing because his role wasn’t clear.

 

25 minutes ago, Sindre said:

I don't see it that way. We've given him what he promised to sign on and now he's not doing that. So he's lied to his club and manager then in that case and then he should have absolutely no complaints about his current treatment. 

I am sure the situation can still be salvaged but the club isn't going to do more now. We've given him everything he wants (including three year contract). So it will be up to Christensen to be true to his word at this point.

The grass won't be greener on the other side for him. He's got the perfect manager for him and in my view he'd be stupid to leave.

I feel his contract situation is linked to Rudiger though, if he signs up for £140k/w and the club gives Rudiger a £200+k/w his agent would have done a bad job. I feel he is intentionally dragging his feet to see if Rudiger signs an extension or decides to leave, he either then rejects the contract for improved terms or signs the contract.

Fans seem to be forgetting he is actually more important than Rudiger is in the current system. He can play CB, or RCB, he walks on a free and we will need to sign 2 players to cover his role or 1 player capable of filling both roles.

37 minutes ago, The Don Antonio said:

I trust in Christensen's professionalism . It doesn't matter if he signs a pre contract with City in January the same way it doesn't matter if Rudiger signs a pre contract with Man utd in January  , besides they can only sign pre contracts in January with foreign clubs but that isn't the point. The point is that he is free to renege on any contract that hasn't been signed since he is in a position of power due to this being his last season.

Can you imagine, though, how the team environment can be with that situation and, more importantly, the feeling of fans going to the matches? That can be more disruptive, imagine how the fans will react if we start seeing him on the pitch and he makes a slight mistake.

37 minutes ago, The Don Antonio said:

The major f**k up is from Chelsea letting both players contracts run till they are almost free agents before securing them. 

I just feel like as long as Christensen is on the pay roll then he should be free to play, you cant strong arm a player to sign a new contract especially when he is in a position of power. This is being badly played by Chelsea but I hope it works out well for us because it will work out well regardless for Christensen.  

I don't agree with this in Christensen's case, which I think is different from Rudiger's. Christentsen's side have been talking about leaving Chelsea for years now, Chelsea have finally offered what he wanted and he still is rejecting it. If he is considering signing a pre-contract with another team (hopefully you're right and he goes outside the PL), we are not obliged to play him especially when Chalobah is covering the right side exceedingly well. We may need a cover for Silva, try the bench and/or go out to the market in January (maybe Kounde can be the cover we need ? and he was willing to come to Chelsea). But I kind of agree with the Club and manager to do the right thing and I don't trust Christensen's side.

1 hour ago, RMH said:

Can you imagine, though, how the team environment can be with that situation and, more importantly, the feeling of fans going to the matches? That can be more disruptive, imagine how the fans will react if we start seeing him on the pitch and he makes a slight mistake.

I don't agree with this in Christensen's case, which I think is different from Rudiger's. Christentsen's side have been talking about leaving Chelsea for years now, Chelsea have finally offered what he wanted and he still is rejecting it. If he is considering signing a pre-contract with another team (hopefully you're right and he goes outside the PL), we are not obliged to play him especially when Chalobah is covering the right side exceedingly well. We may need a cover for Silva, try the bench and/or go out to the market in January (maybe Kounde can be the cover we need ? and he was willing to come to Chelsea). But I kind of agree with the Club and manager to do the right thing and I don't trust Christensen's side.

The point i am trying to make is if Christensen is fit physically and mentally to play then he should play. The contract stuff should have nothing to do with the footballing stuff. At the end of the day all this BS should have been left indoors instead of bringing it out in public.

Strange how for the most part, we've held onto the players we wanted to keep, even when we've been struggling and finishing 6th or lower. But just win the Champions league, top of the league, and suddenly we've got players wanting away.

Never got the impression that AC has been completely happy at Chelsea. 

Not sure this one ends well. A glimpse into the politics behind the scenes that do carry on to the pitch. 
AC is simply waiting until Jan to see what other offers arrive. Don’t blame him, but also agree Chelsea shouldn’t be stringed along. 

I have so many things I could say about this but I'll keep it short, Silva will sign and Azpil will sign. Worst case scenario we lose both Andreas and Toni, are they both replaceable? In my opinion yes. Now if Andreas continues to play games and Tuchel wants to keep Rudi as the board I would just take the wages they were offering Andreas amd give Toni his £200k contract at least he's been vocal about wanting to stay and his stance has been consistent throughout. 

Personally I think they are both great players but for me this system and Tuchel's methods have made them as a consistently good as they have been. So I have reason to believe that we're we to flip the money we get for them we could still get quality replacements Trevor shouldn't mean we stop go for Koundé I say we go out for him in the January either a similar deal to our Christian or buy him out right and integrate for half a season.

3 hours ago, ducavis said:

No Rudiger hasn’t been clear, the £200+k/w only became a thing at the backend of the CL win. He has been stringing the club along since early last season when he lost his place to Thiago in a back 4. He held out on signing because his role wasn’t clear.

Yeah and we were trying to get shot of him and were even reportedly happy to palm him off to Tottenham.

Loyalty works both ways in football, we can't complain now the balance of power has shifted.

1 minute ago, Argo said:

Yeah and we were trying to get shot of him and were even reportedly happy to palm him off to Tottenham.

Loyalty works both ways in football, we can't complain now the balance of power has shifted.

When you say 'we', do you refer to the fans or to the Club? Because if it's the fans, I agree with you, if you mean the Club, then I am not so sure.

@Sindre thanks for sharing that.

I agree with those that say the Rudiger and AC situations are different. 

Rudis position has the club has changed a lot over these past 2 years, this time last year he was a back up we wanted to sell in January. He also did not come through our youth system. We signed him from Roma, giving him a pay increase to come. If he can get another one to leave fair enough.

AC on the other hand we have looked after since he was 15. Youth set up, loans, been involved in and around the first team for a few years now. 

He has on a few occasions said how much he cares about the club, yet unlike Toni, we have given him over the past 5 months a contract he agreed to and has not signed twice now.

Personally I say sell him in Jan and sign a replacement or recall Levi Colwill.

9 minutes ago, RMH said:

When you say 'we', do you refer to the fans or to the Club? Because if it's the fans, I agree with you, if you mean the Club, then I am not so sure.

A bit of both. We as fans were happy with the Zouma/Silva duo and barely giving him a second thought while I'm sure the club would have happily cashed in if we got a serious offer for an (at the time) squad player.

Ultimately in every case the most 'loyal' party tends to be whoever needs the other more and the balance of power has firmly shifted to Rudi's side on this one.

2 hours ago, axman2526 said:

@Sindre thanks for sharing that.

I agree with those that say the Rudiger and AC situations are different. 

Rudis position has the club has changed a lot over these past 2 years, this time last year he was a back up we wanted to sell in January. He also did not come through our youth system. We signed him from Roma, giving him a pay increase to come. If he can get another one to leave fair enough.

AC on the other hand we have looked after since he was 15. Youth set up, loans, been involved in and around the first team for a few years now. 

He has on a few occasions said how much he cares about the club, yet unlike Toni, we have given him over the past 5 months a contract he agreed to and has not signed twice now.

Personally I say sell him in Jan and sign a replacement or recall Levi Colwill.

If we can get any money for him now we will have done well. He is now in a position of power, doesn't need to move in January. He can freely negotiate a transfer to a foreign club that includes a nice signing on bonus, a large wage as no transfer fee is due. We have to pay him out the remainder of his contract till June 30.