Antonio Rudiger Could Become One of The World's Highest Paid Defenders

Chelsea star Antonio Rudiger is one of the most sought-after defenders in the world currently. The German defender is in the news as his current contract with the Blues expires at the end of the season, with talks over a renewal so far proving fruitless. With that said, Rudiger is open to sign a new deal if his demands are met, while Chelsea are also keen to retain him as he is a crucial part of Thomas Tuchel’s plans.

Since the two parties remain apart in negotiations, Europe’s top flight clubs are queuing up to make lucrative formal offers to bring the star defender to their fold. Several of Europe’s elite like Real Madrid, Paris Saint Germain, Bayern Munich and Juventus among the teams in the mix to offer up to quadruple his current wages if he chooses to leave the club on a free transfer in the coming summer. It must be noted that, foreign clubs will be allowed to initiate talks over a free transfer for Rudiger from January 1 next year and that could put him on course to become one of the best paid defenders on the planet, Daily Mail reports.

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Juventus’ Matthijs de Ligt currently is the best-paid defender with a GBP 400,000-per-week contract with add-ons. The report further mentions that Rudiger could press for a sum close to that figure due to the lack of a transfer fee, which means he will be in the GBP 70 million bracket. He is currently on GBP 100,000 a week at Chelsea.

The German defender joined the Stamford Bridge side from AS Roma for an initial fee of GBP 29 million in 2017. While he seemingly fell out of favour under Frank Lampard but has emerged as a key man under Thomas Tuchel.

Rudiger was also part of Chelsea’s UEFA Champions League title finish last year and him expecting a big pay raise seems the right thing to do.

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Despite the poor initial negotiations at Chelsea, Rudiger has continued to play a big part for the team this season, as he scored two goals in 20 outings across all competitions.