Chelsea and Man United set for £35m January battle

Chelsea and Man United are both considering a move for German defender Antonio Rudiger as both Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho look to add to their defensive ranks, according to reports from the Daily Mail.

The Blues manager, who brought in David Luiz and Marcos Alonso in the closing days of the summer window, is still supposedly unhappy with the composition of his back line and is preparing a £35m January move for the Roma man.

However, he will face a battle with former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho who, rather understandably, has some defensive concerns of his own after Conte’s side his the Red Devils for four on Sunday aided by some woeful defensive errors from the visitors.

These two are set to clash in the market after tempers flared between them at the Bridge – Photo: Marc Atkins / Offside.

The Serie A side are reportedly reluctant to lose the 23-year-old, who has made 37 apperances for the club since joining on-loan from Stuttgart in 2015 – a deal which was made permanent this summer – but admit they would find it hard to snub a bid in the region of £35m.

With Man United summer signing, Eric Bailly, now facing a long spell on the sidelines, the onus is on Mourinho to make sure that he has a fully prepared back line to face the remainder of the season in January.