Antonio Rüdiger is ‘at the top of the wish list’ of Barcelona, ​​reports Kicker Wednesday evening. The Chelsea defender has fallen in the pecking order this summer and is therefore allowed to leave West London. Besides Barcelona, ​​AS Roma, the former employer of Rüdiger, is also interested in the international of Germany; according to the sports magazine, both clubs are betting on a rental deal.

On Wednesday evening, Chelsea will face Barnsley in the EFL Cup, but Rüdiger is not part of the match selection. Also last Sunday, during the Premier League match against Liverpool (0-2 defeat), he was not there. In the first game of the season, away against Brighton & Hove Albion (1-3 win), he stayed on the bench for ninety minutes. The 27-year-old stopper simply does not appear in the plans of trainer Frank Lampard.

According to Kicker Rüdiger is unpleasantly surprised by the way in which he has plunged rapidly in the Chelsea rankings. In 2017, he came over from AS Roma for a maximum amount of 39 million euros. In total, Rüdiger recorded eighty appearances in the Premier League in his first three seasons. He was sidelined twice for months due to two serious injuries, but if he was fit he could usually count on a starting place.

Remarkably, Chelsea wanted to extend his contract, which runs until mid-2023, a few weeks ago. He is now seen as redundant. The ‘U-turn’ is the result of Lampard’s wishes and not so much those of the club management. Thiago Silva, Andreas Christensen, Kurt Zouma and Fikayo Tomori are ranked higher in the back in the center, as a result of which Rüdiger has been relegated to fifth choice in the heart of the defense.

The signal that there is no future for Rüdiger at Stamford Bridge, has been picked up by Ronald Koeman’s Barcelona and his former club AS Roma. It is not an option for the 32-time international to finish his contract: he has his sights on the European Championship 2021 and therefore wants to play regularly this season. A year on the bench at Chelsea would not do any good to Rüdiger with national coach Joachim Löw, which means that he still wants to leave this transfer period.