Chelsea have lost out to Bayern Munich in the race for highly-rated defender Niklas Sule. The 21 year old defender has been a mainstay of the Hoffenheim side that currently sits fifth in the Bundesliga, and are boasting the division’s only unbeaten record.
Sule has turned down an offer from the Stamford Bridge outfit and has agreed a deal in excess of €20 million from the Bavarian giants.
Only Andreas Christensen (670) has completed more passes in defensive half of the pitch in the Bundesliga this season than Sule (635). Antonio Conte had been eyeing the 6ft 5in defender as he looks to re-mould his Blues backline in the coming seasons, with John Terry (36), Gary Cahill (31) in the latter stages of their career and David Luiz also 29.
Chelsea have already seen one move for Sule knocked back by his club, and had been preparing to go again, with Conte having made the German international his No.1 target, after Leonardo Bonucci signed a new deal with Juventus last month.
Chelsea have been brilliant defensively since Conte switched to playing three at the back, but their lack of depth is alarming as an injury to any of their first choice defenders could be a fatal blow to their title ambitions.
Sule is one of the most accomplished young centre-backs in Europe and has started all but one of Hoffenheim’s 16 league games so far this season as they have gone unbeaten in the 2016-17 campaign.
A powerful defender, Sule is exactly the kind of young centre-back Blues manager Antonio Conte could have done with in his squad to bolster his back line. However, Bayern now have another quality defender signed in their ranks.