Chelsea completed their first major signing of the summer with the acquisition of Roma defender Antonio Rudiger for a reported fee of £29m, rising to £33.3m with add-on clauses.
Rudiger follows goalkeeper Willy Caballero through the door at Stamford Bridge and has signed a five-year deal with the champions.
Speaking to the club’s official website, the 24-year-old German international gave an insight as to what Chelsea fans can expect from him over the next few years:
“I would say I enjoy the physical element of the game and putting in strong tackles. I’m a fast player, and I play with passion. In Italy I learned a lot as a defender from a tactical point of view and I have to say a big thank you to the people at Roma who helped me develop and achieve the move to Chelsea.”
The History
Born in Berlin, Rudiger spent three years at Borussia Dortmund’s academy before breaking through at VfB Stuttgart.
After featuring regularly for Stuttgart II during the 2011/12 campaign, Rudiger made his first-team debut against Borussia Monchengladbach in January 2012.
He established himself as a regular starter during the second half of the 2012/13 season, making 16 league appearances, and carried that on into 2013/14, featuring in 30 matches and scoring twice.
Injuries limited Rudiger to just 19 appearances during the 2014/15 campaign, but that didn’t deter Roma from signing the defender, initially on loan, in August 2015.
Rudiger impressed in his first season in Serie A, registering two goals in 30 league appearances while playing predominantly at centre-back.
Last season was again disrupted slightly by injuries, but Rudiger still racked up 26 matches in the league, which yielded two assists. Interestingly, the German featured more at right-back, particularly towards the end of the campaign.
Having represented Germany at U18, U19, U20 and U20 levels, scoring six goals in 34 matches, Rudiger made his senior debut against Poland in May 2014.
He has currently made 17 appearances for his country, although he has yet to score.
The Prospects
With John Terry and Nathan Ake departing this summer, defensive reinforcements were always going to be high on Antonio Conte’s wishlist.
In Rudiger, Conte looks to have added a player whose versatility will be crucial, given that the Blues will have to juggle a Champions League campaign alongside domestic matters this season.
Primarily a centre-back, Rudiger is also capable of playing at right-back and, to a lesser extent, left-back, although he perhaps lacks the attacking prowess to thrive at wing-back, with crossing certainly not a strong element of his game.
The German’s main qualities are his athleticism, positioning and reading of the game, while standing at 6ft 3in tall, he can also be formidable in the air – although, in that respect, the Premier League will certainly be a different challenge.
If Conte sticks with the 3-4-3 formation he favoured last season, Rudiger is adaptable enough to play in any of the three central defensive positions, though the middle spot is likely to be retained by David Luiz.
Encouragingly for Chelsea, the new arrival was afforded plenty of experience in a similar defensive set-up for Roma last year. The Italian outfit conceded six goals in the 12 league matches that Rudiger started in a back-three. Although his preferred position is on the left of the three, the German was mainly utilised on the right by Roma.
A similar scenario could allow Conte to alternate Rudiger with Cesar Azpilicueta on the right of the three and/or rotate Azpilicueta with Victor Moses at right wing-back. With a mooted move for Juventus’ left-sided Sandro gathering pace, the Italian would then have healthy competition for all places in his rearguard.
Conte can also be flexible in terms of his tactics. Should he feel the need to change system – something he rarely had to consider last term – there is a theory that he may consider adopting a 4-2-4 formation as a plan B.
Rudiger would be an option at right-back in that system, with Moses perhaps lacking the experience to play as part of a flat back four.
The lack of height of Moses and Cesar Azpilicueta was exposed last season, most notably in the 2-0 defeat away to Tottenham Hotspur when Dele Alli twice rose at the back post to score.
The addition of Rudiger looks intended to fix that issue and should make the Chelsea backline more resilient.
Ultimately, the new boy’s adaptability may see Conte shuffle the configuration of his backline according to fixture and opponent. Moses could be favoured at home to help break down opponents, with Azpilicueta claiming the wing-back role on the road, allowing Rudiger a starting role alongside Luiz and Gary Cahill.
Rudiger hasn’t offered much of a goal threat throughout his career and last season only averaged a shot every 220.60 minutes.
By comparison, Cahill, who netted six times in the league last season, produced an effort on goal every 137.33 minutes.
Looking at Rudiger’s Bonus Points System (BPS) potential, he averaged a clearance, block or interception every 19.52 minutes.
That was inferior to Luiz (11.87), Cahill (14.21) and Azpilicueta (17.10), although slightly better than wing-backs Marcos Alonso (21.05) and Moses (25.19).
Discipline could also be a negative factor. Rudiger picked up seven yellow cards and one red last season, conceding a foul every 49.02 minutes.
Among Chelsea defenders last term, Cahill ranked next, conceding a foul every 96.94 minutes, while Luiz (101.93), Alonso (107.76) and Azpilicueta (126.67) were even more impressive in that area.
Considering his limited attacking appeal, the relatively underwhelming CBI numbers and an apparent lack of discipline, Rudiger seems unlikely to climb the pecking order among Blues’ defensive assets.
But the fact that Rudiger will miss the start of pre-season following his participation in the Confederations Cup means he may well not be rushed into the starting XI in any case.
Given the doubts over his initial playing time, it is no surprise to see Rudiger come in at 6.0 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), joining a side that managed 16 clean sheets last season.
The champions face a fairly tricky start to the campaign after a plum opening fixture at home to Burnley (tot, EVE, lei, ARS, sto, MCI), so Blues defenders are unlikely to be seen as priorities as we draw up our Gameweek 1 squads.
The opening month of the season should allow us the ideal opportunity to assess Conte’s defence and make a call on his likely tactics. It could also hand us an indication into the likelihood of rotation now that the Blues have European duties to consider.
Sadly, despite the recent departures of Terry and Ake, we suspect that the Conte’s regular defensive selection will be far more difficult to predict following Rudiger’s arrival.
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