Thomas Tuchel confirms another Chelsea defender is leaving

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that Andreas Christensen will be leaving the club when his contract expires on June 30.

The Denmark international has already agreed a pre-contract with Barcelona, and he will join them on a free transfer this summer.

Tuchel has now formally acknowledged that Christensen is leaving the Blues. he said: "We are losing, of course, Toni [Antonio Rudiger], we're losing Andreas. So this is tough and we already have gap close."

The Blues are currently banned from negotiating transfers or contract deals due to the ongoing sanctions on owner Roman Abramovich.

However, that is expected to change over the coming weeks. Todd Boehly's consortium will become the new owners before the end of May.

The onus will be on negotiating new contracts after the restrictions are lifted, but the Blues will also need to bolster their centre-back options.

Sevilla's Jules Kounde and Villarreal's Pau Torres are among the leading candidates that could join the Blues in the next transfer window.