Antonio Rudiger's departure from Chelsea was confirmed on the weekend and the centre back is set to be part of a ridiculous list of defenders who have left the Premier League club in just a year.
Rudiger's contract expires at the end of the season and it had long been expected the German would leave the club, considering he hadn't accepted any new contracts.
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Thomas Tuchel confirmed the news that Rudiger would be leaving, after the Blues win over West Ham on Sunday, and on Monday it was claimed that it will be to join Real Madrid.
Tuchel could end up being in the market for three defenders this summer as the threat looms large over the squad that Andreas Christiansen and Cesar Azpilicueta could also leave.
The pair have strongly been linked with moves to Barcelona, and Christiansen in particular isn't expected to sign a new deal at Stamford Bridge.
With the trio departing the club it would be helpful if they had some defenders to replace them, but the European champions also sold three good defenders last summer.
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Fikayo Tomori, Marc Guehi and Kurt Zouma were all allowed to leave Chelsea in the transfer window, and it now looks like a poor decision in hindsight.
Any fans of the west London club hoping that it will be easy to get Tomori and Guehi back are sadly mistaken with the pair not having buy back clauses in their transfers.
Tomori was on loan at AC Milan this time last season and the Italian club made it a permanent deal in the summer, signing him for around £25 million.
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The centre back and his teammates are in a battle with rivals Inter Milan for the Serie A title and there has been lots of calls for him to be included in Gareth Southgate's England side.
Guehi has already had that honour, after being called up for the first time last month, after impressing with Crystal Palace in his first season in the Premier League.
After playing well on loan for Championship Swansea in the previous campaign, Palace paid £18 million for the 21-year-old and Chelsea only have a first refusal on the player, not a buy back amount.
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Zouma may have had negative headlines, following his reported abuse of his cat, but the Frenchman has impressed no end for West Ham United.
The club could yet make the Champions League next season, even though their defeat to Chelsea all but ended their top four aspirations, as they remain in the Europa League.
On top of those three, the Blues also sold Tino Livramento to Southampton last summer, having never featured for the Blues first team, although the right back does have a buy back clause.
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Any of the three centre backs would have made excellent replacements for the potentially three departing defenders in the team's usual back three.
Instead whoever the new owners are will have to fork out big money and hope the incoming players can adapt to Tuchel's way of playing and the Premier League.
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Chelsea, Transfers, Antonio Rudiger, Cesar Azpilicueta, Premier League, Kurt Zouma
