Chelsea defender Toni Rudiger has accepted a contract offer from Real Madrid, it has been revealed.
The star’s contract expires at Stamford Bridge in June and he has rejected numerous offers to stay.
After victory over West Ham, Blues boss Thomas Tuchel revealed the pair had a “private talk” where it was decided his future would be away from the club – meaning he will leave for free.
Now Italian transfer expert Fabrizio Romano claims that the 29-year-old only has to put pen to paper on his contract with Madrid after agreeing terms over a four-year deal with them.
He tweeted: “The agreement between Toni Rudiger and Real Madrid has been reached on a four year deal, valid until June 2026.
“It’s matter of final details before signing the contracts.
“No official announcement before the end of the season, even if Toni will sign in May.”
The centre-back will walk away from Stamford Bridge at the end of the season after rejecting the chance to become the club’s highest-paid defender of all time on £230,000-a-week, says the London Evening Standard.
While Chelsea’s hierarchy were prepared to go to such levels to keep hold of the Germany international, they were conscious of the risk of more players looking to run their contracts down to receive huge pay days.
They already face a race against time to keep hold of N’Golo Kante and Jorginho, who are both set to enter the final 12 months of their current deals. And with Andreas Christensen also set to walk away this summer as a free agent, there is a growing pattern of players being allowed to enter the final stages of their contracts.
That raises the prospect of Chelsea having to watch valuable assets go for nothing, or offer huge deals to keep them at the club.
Rudiger’s situation has been complicated by the sanctions placed on Roman Abramovich, which prevent Chelsea from handing out new contracts until the club is sold. But the offer of £230,000-a-week was made before their Russian owner had his assets frozen by the UK Government – and it was determined the figures required to keep hold of the defender would be too much.
BILD says Rudiger has chosen Madrid ahead of a superior offer from Manchester United.
United tabled a deal worth €10m-a-year NET to Rudiger, but he couldn’t be swayed.
John Terry is not too happy seeing Toni Rudiger leave the club. Responding to the news, legendary Chelsea defender Terry was incredulous.
“How have we let this man go?” he replied to a post on Instagram with three covering face emojis.
