Bayern Munich saw a late effort to sign Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger fail, as he’d already signed a deal to join Real Madrid.
That’s according to journalist Christian Falk on his Bayern Insider Podcast, relayed by Fussball Transfers, who says the long-term target was already on his way to Spain.
According to Falk, Bayern made a ‘desperate last-minute attempt’ to sign Rudiger, with sports director Hasan Salihamidzic having ‘panicked’ after the defeat to Villarreal in the Champions League.
That loss and shock elimination apparently opened the Bayern chief’s eyes to the need for reinforcements and a leader at the back, so he ‘picked up the phone’ to Rudiger’s agents, offering Rudiger’s management a five-year deal.
The Chelsea defender, who is leaving on a free transfer in the summer, had been a topic at the German giants for several months, but ‘concrete negotiations’ had never been started due to the defender’s high wage demands.
He’s instead flirted between staying at Chelsea or moving elsewhere, with the latter becoming a reality when Real Madrid swooped in to secure a deal.
And it was that which ended up scuppering Bayern, who discovered he had already done 90% of his transfer with Real Madrid and signed a contract to move to the Bernabeu.
That means the Chelsea man joins a growing list of centre-backs they’ve missed out on this year, with Andreas Christensen and Nico Schlotterbeck also having ‘slipped through’ their fingers.
