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With Antonio Rüdiger supposedly edging every closer to leaving Chelsea at the end of the season, the German defender will need to be replaced.

The Blues have been linked with many defenders over the past few months, and it appears a new option has emerged: Josko Gvardiol.

The young Croatian, who is enjoying a very successful first season at RB Leipzig this season, is now on Chelsea’s radar, according to Sky Germany, relayed by Fussball Transfers.

It’s stated that Thomas Tuchel ‘would like to welcome’ the 20-year-old at Stamford Bridge and sees him as the ‘successor to central defender Antonio Rüdiger’.

In fact, the German manager has made a ‘corresponding transfer request’ to Chelsea regarding the defender, but there are ‘several hurdles’ that need to be overcome before that happens.

First are the restrictions currently in place at the London club, and then there is the desire of Leipzig to keep their ‘defensive shooting star’ for more than a season.

In fact, Gvardiol himself recently said himself he wanted to remain in Germany next year, although we all know an attractive proposition from the Premier League could change that.

Sky Germany journalist Florian Plettenberg then added a bit more on his Twitter soon after, revealing the Croatian has ‘no release clause’ at Leipzig and there has yet to be any contact between Chelsea and the player’s management.

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