Why I chose to leave Chelsea – Antonio Rüdiger

Antonio Rüdiger has opened up about leaving Stamford Bridge and attributed his decision to exit Chelsea on a lull in contract talks with the club earlier this season.

After opting not to extend his contract, the Germany centre-back will join Real Madrid on a free transfer. Rüdiger alleges he was put in the dark about his future for five months after rejecting Chelsea’s first offer of £140,000 per week last summer.

Chelsea had returned with another £230,000 offer before Roman Abramovich was sanctioned in March. It would have made Rüdiger the highest-paid defender in club history, but talks broke down once more when the club received requests for a substantial signing-on fee for the 29-year-old as well as large sums for his representation.

“Unfortunately,” the German said, “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.

“We’re not robots, you know? You cannot wait for months with so much uncertainty about your future. 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.”