Rüdiger skipping summer holidays to be fully fit for next season

Antonio Rüdiger was one of three probable starters to miss Chelsea’s 4-1 beatdown of Arsenal in the Europa League final through inury, though he still traveled with the team to cheer on his replacement, Andreas Christensen, and was seen leading more than his fair share of post-match celebrations — well deserved of course as one of the key players this season for the Blues.

As well as he managed to operate that pair of crutches, Rüdiger’s is still ready to get down to the business of recovery and rehabilitation. In fact, he’s forgoing much of his summer in order to do so.

“[Being ready for the next campaign] is my target, my aim — there’s not much holiday for me. I just want to be as soon as possible back on the pitch, stronger and better.”

While this time it was “just” the meniscus that needed some cleaning up, the 26-year-old centre back is unfortunately quite experienced in knee injury rehab. This was his fourth major knee operation since 2015 (though not all the same knee), though so far he’s recovered quickly and without any effect on his game each and every time.

Hopefully that will be the case once again.

“Everything is going well, I’m very, very happy with the process and hoping to be back as soon as possible.”

“[The surgeons] went into my knee, so I have to wait and see for the [healing] process and the only one who decides is my knee itself!”

“It’s not my first operation, I’m experienced in this. I can be very happy at the time when [returning to full fitness] happens. There’s never a good time for an injury, but this time I’m very happy so I can be fit for the new season.”

-Antonio Rüdiger; Source: Chelsea FC via Goal

See you later, Rüdi!