Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger has raised his salary demands and is now seeking around £225,000-per-week before a signing-on bonus to stay at the club.
The Germany international is out of contract at the end of the campaign and he’s snubbed a number of proposals from Chelsea’s board to stay at Stamford Bridge.
Thomas Tuchel is desperate to keep Rudiger, who has been one of Chelsea’s star performers so far this campaign.
But those performances have only strengthened Rudiger’s belief that he should be one of the club’s top earners and he currently has an offer on the table from Real Madrid to move to La Liga.
The Blues were taken aback at the start of the campaign when Rudiger demanded around £200,000-per-week but the Athletic claim those demands have now increased, with the player now seeking around £225,000-per-week.
That’s before any signing-on fee, which is likely to be huge given Chelsea would face losing Rudiger on a free transfer in the summer.
Despite Rudiger’s increased demands, Chelsea are more confident now than they have been that he will sign a new contract.
Andreas Christensen and Cesar Azpilicueta are also out of contract in July and the London side are wary of caving into demands from one of the players, knowing the knock-on effect it could have on talks with the others.
The trio can all sign pre-contract agreements with foreign teams and have been able to do so since January 1st.
But they are yet to do so, which has given the Blues hope that they can be convinced to stay.
