German defender Antonio Rudiger has joined Real Madrid on a four-year-old deal after moving from Chelsea to the Santiago Bernabeu on a free transfer.

The 29-year-old rejected a contract extension at Chelsea, preferring to move to the European champions and sign a four-year deal.

Rudiger spent five years in Chelsea after joining them from Italian side Roma for a fee of 29 million pounds in 2017 and went on to make 203 appearances for the Blues. He won the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and the FA Cup scored 12 goals in total in all competitions for Chelsea.

Despite the ownership situation at Chelsea before the handover to Todd Boehly was completed, the Blues offered Rudiger over £200,000 a week to stay.

However, the defender held discussions with Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich before announcing his move to the Spanish capital on Thursday via a Twitter post.

Chelsea were restricted from transfers and a couple of other logistics, including a ban on the club’s financial account as a result of a UK government sanction on the club’s former owner Roman Abramovich in March in relation to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Roman Abramovich was forced to sell the club with a consortium led by American investor Todd Boehly taking over in a £4.25bn deal in May.

Meanwhile, Rudiger will be publicly unveiled to Real Madrid fans on the 20th of June.

However, Chelsea are on the verge of losing more players, including Andreas Christensen, on a free transfer. The Danish defender is expected to move to Barcelona.

Also, skipper Cesar Azpilicueta will run out of contract, but he is expected to remain at the club after a one-year contract renewal was triggered in his contract.

Chelsea finished third on the Premier League table in the recently-concluded season, but Real Madrid won the La Liga and UEFA Champions League double.

Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu