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Barcelona club directors Mateu Alemany and Jordi Cruyff met with Antonio Rudiger‘s advisor, Sahr Senesie, on Wednesday evening to discuss the Chelsea defender’s potential arrival to the Camp Nou as a free agent this summer.
Sky Sport Germany captured images of Barca football director Alemany and the club’s international scouting director Cruyff meeting Senesie, who is also Rudiger’s stepbrother, in a hotel in Barcelona.
Barca have confirmed to ESPN that the meeting took place with the club wanting to know what Rudiger’s wage demands would be and if the operation is feasible.
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Rudiger’s contract with Chelsea expires at the end of the season, meaning there would be no transfer fee. However, the 29-year-old would command a high salary, which could be a hurdle for a club that is trying to reduce its wage bill to be within LaLiga’s salary limits.
ESPN has previously reported that Barca are poised to complete the signings of Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie this summer as their current contracts with Chelsea and AC Milan, respectively, end in June.
Barca are also monitoring Cesar Azpilicueta‘s situation. The Spanish defender is waiting to find out if he can leave Chelsea at the end of the season as a free agent or if the Premier League club will ask him to continue for a further campaign at Stamford Bridge.
Barca also consider Rudiger a good candidate to strengthen their defence and that is why, according to club sources, they are closely monitoring the Germany international.
The Catalan club has Gerard Pique, Ronald Araujo, Eric Garcia, Clement Lenglet and Samuel Umtiti who can cover the role in central defence.
However, the Catalan club is negotiating Araujo’s contract extension, with his current deal ending in June 2023, while they expect Lenglet and Umtiti to leave the club this summer.