Players Who May Sign a Pre-Contract This January

Since Thomas Tuchel took over at Stamford Bridge, Antonio Rudiger has gone from a decent Premier League centre-back to arguably the best in the league. Rudiger has been an integral part of the Champions League success and current Premier League title fight under Tuchel.

With only six months remaining on his contract, and with him being in the best form of his career, it is a great opportunity for him to ask for a higher wage. Clubs like Real Madrid could offer a huge signing-on bonus, however, meaning Chelsea will have to offer his demands, otherwise they could lose their best central defender for free in the summer.

As of now, Real Madrid lead the way on the Antonio Rudiger odds list, but Bayern Munich is always a likely route for a German.

It was well documented in the summer that Mbappe asked to leave Paris Saint-Germain for Real Madrid, with the Spanish giants even putting in multiple bids reportedly up to £200m, which were turned down. Florentino Perez has stated that he hopes Mbappe will sign a pre-contract in January to take him to Madrid in the summer, and it seems likely.

However, the PSG hierarchy have differing opinions to Perez, and they seem optimistic that they can keep Mbappe at the club and sign another contract with them. Mbappe has had his personal best all-around season of his career by adding playmaking to his game this season and topping the Ligue 1 assists table, making it unlikely PSG will be letting him go in January, unless Madrid make a new bid over £200m.

It seems all but a guarantee that we'll one day see him in Madrid, however.

Kessie has been on the radar of many top clubs in Europe the last few seasons with his performances always improving and making himself a highly valuable player for AC Milan. With Milan always demanding a high fee for the player, a move to a bigger club has never materialised for him.

Now with his contract expiring soon, and talks with Milan seemingly broken down Milan are in a position where they can cash in on him, or keep him with their team involved in a title race and risk losing him for free with Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur linked with his signature.

Spurs lead the way for this transfer on the Franck Kessie odds list.

Since Paul Pogba returned to Manchester United in 2016, no player has split opinion more than him and it has left United in a position where he could leave for free six years on.

Pogba had a great start to the season, grabbing four assists in the league opener against Leeds United, but has since fallen off, and for the third season in a row picked, up an injury that has made him miss a big part of the season.

With a reported contract offer from United being on the table for months, it makes it likely that Pogba is looking to leave Old Trafford, and with Real Madrid, PSG and Juventus likely offering him contracts in January, Pogba will most likely leave United in the summer.

Insigne has been a vital part of this Napoli team for nearly a decade, and in the midst of a title challenge in Serie A, his contract talks have seemingly stalled. Insigne has come through the club's youth system, and now he has recently turned 30, he may be looking for a bigger contract or look to cash in on his excellent form shown in 2021.

After winning the European Championships with Italy and with a title race with Napoli too, Insigne will attract offers from big European clubs, with Spurs and Inter Milan reportedly interested, although Juventus seems a likely route too as they look to patch up their post-Cristiano Ronaldo woes.

Dembele has never lived up to the £100m move to Barcelona in 2017, with multiple serious injuries and inconsistency in form getting in the way of him fulfilling his potential that was highly regarded when he was at Borussia Dortmund.

Xavi has stated that he wants to keep Dembele at the club, but he has so far has refused to sign a contract extension. Dembele will want assurances of game time, but also he may want a fresh start, with top clubs willing to gamble on him fulfilling his potential and staying injury-free.

It seems as if PSG could be one of the few clubs to afford him, and given he is French too, perhaps it makes sense as well.

Sule is another player who has been hampered by injury after his big move, suffering a second cruciate ligament injury at Bayern in 2019, which made him lose his place in the side.

Despite playing often and performing well under new manager Julian Nagelsmann, Sule reportedly doesn’t feel appreciated at Bayern, giving him the urge to explore his options at the end of his contract.

With aspirations of Champions League and Bundesliga titles, Bayern will not want to lose him in January given how he is only 26, making the most likely option of Sule leaving in the summer for free, similar to David Alaba last summer.