Chelsea: Why Antonio Rudiger opted not to renew and join Real Madrid

Antonio Rudiger’s current level undoubtedly places him as one of the best Centre-Backs in the world. The German arrived at Chelsea in 2017 from Roma in exchange for €35,000,000 and his level of performance at The Blues has been outstanding.

Rudiger made 202 appearances at the English club, scored 12 goals, and was never sent off. He also won 5 titles, including the (2020-2021) Champions League. Rudiger will leave Chelsea and will join Real Madrid as a free agent as of July 1, but El Merengue will still invest a lot of money in him.

He is gonna be announced as new Real Madrid player after the Champions League Final, to be played on May 28. However, the German has already signed a four-year deal, and medical tests also were completed. It is believed that Rugider’s salary at the Spanish club will be €11 million per year. In this context, the defender has confessed why he decided not to renew his contract with Chelsea and leave at the end of the season.

This is whyAntonio Rudigerdecided not to renew his contract with Chelsea

Rudiger is understood to have rejected the Blues’ first offer of £140,000 (165.536 euros) per week almost a year ago, and then the negotiations became more complicated. “Unfortunately, my contract negotiations had already started to get difficult last fall. Business is business, but when you don’t hear any news from the club from August to January, the situation becomes complicated. After the first offer, there was a long gap of just nothing“, the 29-year-old player explained in a piece for the Players’ Tribune.

Reportedly, Chelsea offered a new contract to thedefender of £230,000 (271.952 euros) per week earlier this year. Chelsea were prepared to make the Center-Back the highest-paid defender in the club’s history, but talks again broke down when it was demanded that the Blues also pay him a huge signing-on fee and his agentsother large sums.

Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the British government due to his close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin following the invasion of Ukraine, and because of that, Chelsea were not allowed to make new signings or renew contracts.

According to Rudiger, he did not want to leave the English club, but the uncertainty over his future put him in a bind. “My decision came to the point, to be honest, in March. We’re not robots, you know? You cannot wait for months with so much uncertainty about your future,” acknowledged the German.

So it was that while Chelsea were waiting fornew ownership, Rudiger agreed his contract with Real Madrid. “I didn’t want to wait until June to sort out my future because it’s been almost a year of uncertainty. Obviously, no one saw the sanctions coming, but in the end, other big clubs were showing interest, and I had to make a decision. I will leave it at that, because business aside, I have nothing bad to say about this club”, the Center-Back confessed.