Chelsea defender Antonio Rüdiger decided against joining Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United in the recently concluded transfer window.
According to Bild, Frank Lampard informed the 27-year-old he will not count on the centre-back this season.
Joachim Löw had given permission to the Blues defender to sit out of the national team camp on Monday to sort out his future.
Spurs and the Hammers, alongside Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, AS Roma and Milan were all linked with the centre-back, but he couldn’t get a move away from Stamford Bridge.
The outlet explains why a move to either of these six clubs never took shape.
It’s claimed the defender had a telephonic conversation with José Mourinho and found the option to join Spurs ‘attractive’.
However, he ‘decided against a loan within London’ due to the rivalry between Tottenham and Chelsea.
The inter-city rivalry, however, wasn’t the factor why a move to West Ham didn’t take shape.
David Moyes was ‘interested in Rüdiger’, but his side offered ‘limited sporting incentive’ to the German.
Having failed to find a new club, Bild explains Rüdiger is ‘now pushing’ for a move away from Chelsea in January so that he can make his way into Löw’s squad for the European championship.
Should Lampard have a chance of heart in the first half of the seaosn, a stay at Chelsea would be Rüdiger’s ‘favourite option’.
