Chelsea had deal agreed with defender in summer before injury, Man United now ready to move in

 

Is it a coincidence that the Antonio Rüdiger to the Premier League rumours have reemerged during the week the player returned to the AS Roma starting XI following his cruciate ligament injury?

Of course it isn’t.

That’s just how it works, but Il Tempo, one of Italy’s Rome based newspapers, are trying to play down the interest from Chelsea and Manchester United, even though they admit it’s there.

The reason for this is Roma’s lack of desire when it comes to selling the German defender, and any talks would have to wait until next summer, at the earliest.

This is due to the injuries suffered by other Roma defenders since then, such as Alessandro Florenzi or Thomas Vermaelen.

Il Tempo do make it clear Chelsea came very close to signing Rüdiger in the summer for a €25m deal, but the severity of the young centre-back’s injury put a stop to any deal.

As for Manchester United, Il Tempo simply say José Mourinho is ready to ‘insert himself’ in the proceedings.

We can only guess that he’ll do so when the time is right.

Before anything happens, it’s probably wise to see how Rüdiger has recovered from his knee injury. The idea of Mourinho’s Manchester United battling Chelsea for a player is of course one which would receive plenty of attention, so expect more on this.