Chelsea fans can now rest easy over Barca interest in Rudiger and Christensen

FT Desk

• 8 Apr 2022 11:15 BST
• 5 min read

Chelsea’s season went from bad to worse this week, when Thomas Tuchel’s side were all but knocked out of the Champions League in the first leg of their quarter-final clash with Real Madrid.

A hat-trick from Karim Benzema over the course of 90 minutes of high-paced football at Stamford Bridge made short work of any hopes Chelsea fans had of their side retaining their European title.

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With the club out of both domestic cup competitions and now out of the Premier League title race, attention should perhaps turn to the summer transfer window where Chelsea may finally be able to lick their wounds.

Indeed, good news may finally be on the horizon as it now seems as though Barcelona’s reported interest in central defenders Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger may not be as concrete as fans of the London club may have once feared.

Araujo is set to stay at Barca

According to sports journalist Fabrizio Romano, Barca are narrowing in on new terms for central defender Ronald Araujo. And that should come as music to the ears of Chelsea fans.

Araujo was rumoured to be on the move this summer due to his contract expiring in 2023, which in turn fuelled most of the reports linking the Catalan giants with a move for either of Chelsea’s defensive stars.

Now that Araujo looks set to commit his future to the club, it seems highly unlikely that Barca will look to blow their budget on another top-class central defender this summer.

The emergence of Garcia

Another reason why Chelsea fans should rest easy is because alongside Araujo’s proposed new deal, Barca manager Xavi has also grown to depend on former Manchester City defender Eric Garcia.

Although the 21-year-old talent was deemed surplus to requirement under Ronald Koeman, Garcia has been a regular starter in Xavi’s side, with a notably impressive performance in the recent 4-0 win over Real Madrid.

As such, with Gerard Pique still playing a starting role at the club and Araujo sticking around, it means Xavi has three dependable central defenders in his squad that he rotates in and out of the side on a regular basis. And no real need to bring the likes of Rudiger or Christensen into the squad to upset that balance.