Antonio Rüdiger blames Chelsea exit on talks going quiet in autumn

Antonio Rüdiger has blamed his decision to leave Chelsea on talks over a new deal with the club going quiet earlier this season.

The Germany centre-back is joining Real Madrid on a free transfer after deciding not to extend his contract. Rüdiger rejected Chelsea’s first offer of £140,000 a week last summer and says he was then left in the dark about his future for five months.

Chelsea went back with another offer of £230,000 before sanctions were imposed on Roman Abramovich in March. It would have made Rüdiger the highest-paid defender in their history but talks broke down again when the club received demands for a huge signing-on fee for the player and large fees for the 29-year-old’s representatives. Chelsea were unable to resume negotiations after Abramovich was sanctioned and the uncertainty led to Rüdiger accepting Madrid’s offer.

“Unfortunately, my contract negotiations had already started to get difficult last fall,” Rudiger said in a piece for The Players’ Tribune. “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.”