For much of the summer, Chelsea was linked to Erling Haaland. The price and wage rumors kept creeping up and up and many fans took to a simple mantra: “at any cost”. In the mind of many, Haaland is or would be the best in the world and he was worth whatever Chelsea had to pay for him.
But, it’s not that simple. Teams are microeconomies. Pay one payer way above the rest, and then guys you already have start asking for more. Suddenly your wage bill is out of control. Just look at Barcelona after pumping bigger and bigger contracts into their in house super stars and then having to pay far over value for new incoming players. Manchester United has run into a similar issue since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson. Clubs like Chelsea try to keep their wages in check and while that may make them less competitive in the short term, it ensures they can stay more competitive in the long term.
Antonio Rudiger has been fantastic with Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea but he is not worth any contract that it takes to keep him. No one is. These things have limits and Rudiger is seemingly asking for more. Him getting it sets a bad precedent that the Blues shouldn’t follow. If that means the club loses Rudiger, so be it.
Rudiger wants a bigger contract and Chelsea’s offered it. But the Blues are concerned about a few different things that Rudiger isn’t. First of all, the inflation of wages if they meet Rudiger’s demands. Fair or not, defenders are frequently the most under paid players. That’s been true for a very long time and that likely won’t change. If Rudiger is suddenly one of the most highly paid players, that will cause everyone else to ask for more as the wage structure adjusts.
Another concern for the club may be how legit Rudiger’s form really is. Rudiger has played very well for Chelsea before and then he dropped off in form massively. The Blues likely also have one eye on how he does with Germany where he is rarely the dominating centerback that he is in blue. Chelsea, even with a successful Thomas Tuchel, constantly has to think of how players will fit under someone else. Historically, Rudiger doesn’t and he’d be an expensive player to fit in with his contract demands.
But then this all works from Rudiger’s side as well. He’s at an age where he’ll have, at most, one more big move in him. The easiest way to make that happen is to be a free agent. Knowing that, staying at Chelsea means he will demand more in wages. He won’t make those same wages elsewhere, but that isn’t the point. The point is where he wants to spend the rest of his peak and the price for that changes by the club.
At the same time, Chelsea also tried to sell Rudiger barely a year ago now. The Blues failed, but the memory of it will not have gone away. If the Blues rate him now, then they’ll have to pay more for it. This is all basic supply and demand stuff from Rudiger’s camp.
Perhaps more than anything for Chelsea, however, is the simple fact that if Rudiger wants to play for Chelsea, he has a contract on the table that will allow him to do so. It’s not what he wants but a prerequisite for playing at Chelsea is wanting to be a Chelsea player. If he doesn’t take the contract the Blues are offering, so be it. The Blues will lose a player that doesn’t want to stay and Rudiger will get the last big move he may want.
Rudiger, good as he’s been, is not worth any price. The team has to come first and resigning Rudiger for massive wages rather than losing him puts a player over the club. The club shouldn’t, and likely won’t, do that. There should be no hard feelings about it or no cries that someone didn’t work hard enough. It’s just business. Nothing personal.