Welcome to Chelsea, who the hell are you? Vol. 6: Antonio Rudiger
By George Perry
Chelsea appear to have gone from 0 to 100 in a matter of seconds to land Antonio Rudiger from AS Roma. With so little time to get to know him before, here’s a crash course in the German centre-back.
Old and busted: Chelsea continue their pursuit of Virgil van Dijk, agreement gradually getting closer. New hotness: Chelsea agree to all terms with Antonio Rudiger, medical confirmed for early next week.
Yesterday morning Antonio Rudiger was the teammate of one of Chelsea’s main transfer targets, centre-back Kostas Manolas. By the evening, though, multiple sources reported that Chelsea had agreed to purchase Rudiger for £30 million.
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Rudiger is in the middle of pack on nearly every defensive and passing statistic at AS Roma. Rudiger averaged 1.7 tackles and 1 interception per game. He was a distant third on the team in clearances with three per game, trailing Manolas’ 5.3 per game. He is weak in the air, on key passes and for crosses.
The Antonio Rudiger rumours are doubly galling coming the same day Chelsea sold Nathan Ake. Ake averaged 3.3 tackles and 3.2 interceptions per game in his first – and most active – Premier League season, on loan at Watford. Ake is only two years younger than Rudiger, and has played his entire senior career in the Premier League.
In short, the whole Rudiger saga smacks of a Michael Emenalo buy. The thought process includes such elements as “Rudiger is available,” “he is cheaper than Virgil van Dijk” and “if Antonio Conte can make stars of Gary Cahill and David Luiz, surely he can do it with this Rudiger chap!”
Chelsea have already banked over £120 million on player sales in 2017. They have no reason nor excuse for parsimony. Their top rivals are all making aggressive, club-record moves for various players. Chelsea set a new standard for tactics and overachievement last season, and their opponents are responding financially.
Meanwhile, the Blues are repeating a familiar pattern of half-baked purchases. The main difference this time around is that they are doing so early in the transfer window rather than on deadline day.
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The worst possible outcome is that signing Antonio Rudiger starts Chelsea down the path of signing sub-par players who produce sub-par performances, the blame for which falls on Antonio Conte. Antonio Conte out-performed expectations for the club and the individual players last season. No one should expect – let alone compel – him to repeat that feat.
The front office must understand that the 2016/17 Premier League champion squad are not a Champions League squad. Nor are they 2017/18 repeat-title contenders considering how effectively the top six clubs adapted their tactics late in the season and have reshaped their squads accordingly.
Chelsea need to build a squad for the future and for their manager, which starts with getting the manager the players he wants (within reason, and Antonio Conte is eminently reasonable). This dynamic is what made the rumours of Antonio Conte’s discontent so uncomfortably plausible. If it all feels familar and like we have been here before, that’s because it is and we have.
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Chelsea need and deserve better than Antonio Rudiger. Perhaps we should have been more specific when we said “Chelsea’s first official signing needs to be more than Willy Caballero.”