Player ‘hits a wall’ after Chelsea departure – Unable to getting starting spot at new club

Antonio Rudiger signing for Real Madrid in the summer wasn’t a surprise to anyone, with the move being rumoured for months beforehand.

The Galacticos didn’t even wait until the expiry of his deal with the Blues to announce his arrival, as his move as a free agent had been widely reported in the prior months.

Rudiger left Chelsea seeking a dream of playing for Real Madrid, who’d just been crowned European Champions. Despite achieving that, he’s still struggling to find his place in Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

AS features a story explaining how the defender ‘hits a wall’ by having a hard time to get into the starting team. They point out that even though he’s been having ‘remarkable’ performances when used, that’s not enough to enter the line-ups.

Ancelotti is pretty happy with the defence with which he won the Champions League, which is made up of Dani Carvajal, Éder Miltão, David Alaba and Ferland Mendy. As written by AS, they are ‘indisputable pieces’, and there’s ‘no discussion’ to change that.

Rudiger has made nine appearances for Real Madrid this season, but all of them were made when a player was unavailable or left in the middle of the game. For the weekend’s clash against Atlético Madrid, the defender was used for just 15 minutes.

So despite being used to regular playing time at Chelsea, where he had over 5000 minutes in 54 appearances last season, the German defender now must fit into a new reality.