Danish Warrior - 10 Years A Blue!

Rudiger and Azpi will stay. Christensen will leave.

Azpi is 50/50.
Issue isn't wages in his case.
Length of contract is the sticking point and I doubt club will budge on the overaged club contract policy. (Having said that...they did attempt to break that by erroneously offering Willian a 2-year contract, might offer same compromise to Azpi).

Personally wouldn't offer Azpi an extension. Run his course at the club, right time to part-ways.
If it true that Barcelona is offering him 3 years + 1 year option then it's a no-brainer for him.

I would have ideally moved Azpi on in the summer and have a succession plan in place for Livramento to be integrated, Azpi' decline started last season.

As it turned out...our academy player of the year only featured twice on the first-team bench last season (without playing a single minute) and became disillusioned, unsurprisingly.
The only silver-lining is the buyback clause in 2023.

The only silver-lining is the buyback clause in 2023.
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Shouldn’t we then keep Azpi for a year and then bring Livremento back to compete with James?

I think Rudiger will stay 55/45

AC i think wants more regular football and if Tuchel is considering playing a back 4 more often than that doesnt help AC's argument for staying in the PL

comment by ＴＬＬＬ (U4640)

The only silver-lining is the buyback clause in 2023.
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Shouldn’t we then keep Azpi for a year and then bring Livremento back to compete with James?
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That would require Azpi accepting a 1-year contract, which he doesn't want.
The more I think about, the more I feel he'll be the main defensive departure (+ perhaps Sarr, if the club want to make a profit on him whilst his stock is relatively high and coveted by PL clubs that will pay a lot. Easy profit that can be used to strengthen other areas).

Too much at stake losing Christensen.
I mean look at this way from a business prospective...Why would the club allow a player of his age, profile, calibre, potential upward trajectory/ceiling leave on a free?

A defensive asset with huge monetary value leaving on a free, makes no financial business sense.
All that taken into consideration, Christensen' demands will eventually be met. Holds all the cards.

I'm of the belief that Sarr should be replaced by Colwill next season anyway - https://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewArticle/440649
Performs to a much higher standard than Sarr.

Can only hope Tuchel and the club are in agreement on a sensible forward-thinking path for Colwill' integration into the first-team, and don't make the mistake of prioritising Sarr over Colwill.

I’d give Azpi a 2 year deal and then move him on next season.

Agree with you on Sarr. At best I see him reaching Zouma level. But he’s so poor technically which what infuriates me when he plays at LWB or LB. Decent defensively though.

Too much at stake losing Christensen.
I mean look at this way from a business prospective...Why would the club allow a player of his age, profile, calibre, potential upward trajectory/ceiling leave on a free?

A defensive asset with huge monetary value leaving on a free, makes no financial business sense.
All that taken into consideration, Christensen' demands will eventually be met. Holds all the cards.
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The problem is clubs measure their expenditures more in wages than transfer fees these days. Because players (more or less) realize they have the power at the negotiating table now, clubs have to be very careful in situations where the player is out of contract. The potential signing on fee they could get going somewhere else gives them so much leverage over their current employers, and depending on the player winning these battles in the boardroom can kill their ambition a bit. Arsenal know this VERY well in recent times.

I don't think it'll be much of a problem with Rudiger or Christensen though, but that's just a gut feeling. Both should be smart enough to know they've got a good setup here so a compromise should be reached with both.

I think Christensen wants to go to Barca.

Good article and comments.