Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger has officially confirmed he will be leaving the Blues at the end of the current campaign.
Rudiger’s contract with Chelsea is set to expire this summer and opted against extending his stay at Stamford Bridge. In a statement released by Rudiger via the Players’ Tribune, the defender spoke in-depth about his time at Chelsea.
“I don’t like goodbyes, but I will try to make this one special, from the heart,” Rudiger said.
“Actually, I have to tell you a story before I tell you a story. This is the African side of me. We have to take our time.”
I met Kante
“I want to talk about the Champions League final. But for you to understand, I have to tell a quick story about one of the nicest guys in football. I am speaking, of course, about N’Golo Kanté.”
“Before I came to Chelsea, I had heard all the beautiful stories about him. They said he is always smiling. They said he still drives an old Mini Cooper. They said he never raises his voice. But you know how it goes in football, right? No one is really like that. There is too much pressure, too much disappointment. We are all human. No one is that cool all the time. It’s impossible. Then I met N’Golo.”
“Everything I said to this guy, he would just look at me and nod his head, like he thought everything I said was really interesting. And he would do this thing … I don’t really know how to explain it on paper. You have to hear it. Every time I’m talking, he would go *click, click, click* with his mouth.”
The 29-year-old will join Madrid on a free transfer and is expected to sign a four-year deal on July 1 understood to be worth €400,000 (£342,000) per week.
