Antonio Rüdiger not ready to ‘pack it in’ just yet at Chelsea

Antonio Rüdiger had himself a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day yesterday for Germany, and that has mirrored his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad season so far for Chelsea. The 28-year-old center back, who had been first-choice the last three years, has yet to play a single minute in 2020-21.

Once it became apparent that he had fallen to fifth choice at a position that required only four players, it was expected that he would leave, at least on loan, to at least keep himself in solid contention for the Germany national team ahead of next summer’s European Championships. But, as he tells it, he couldn’t quite overcome the inertia of his overall situation in the final weeks of the transfer window.

“Naturally, I looked at a couple of options in the two weeks before the end of the transfer window. There was a possibility of a loan deal, in order for me to get more game time. Due to many different reasons and the shortage of time, nothing materialised in the end.”

“The club didn’t tell me that it was absolutely necessary for me to find a new club and that they definitely didn’t have me in their plans for the next few months. I also turned down one or two options myself. I wasn’t prepared to pack it all in simply because I had been left out a few times. I enjoy living in London and like being at Chelsea.”

But how long will he still like being at Chelsea without playing? Germany head coach Jogi Löw has already urged him to start looking for a move in January. Plenty of lead-time for that one — perhaps enough for things to change at Chelsea, even?

“It is what it is now. I will accept it for the time being and try to show myself in every training session. We are in many different competitions, it’s two games per week all the way from now.

“Sometimes in football, things can change very quickly. That’s why I will continue to give my best every day and try to convince the manager.”

-Antonio Rüdiger; source: The Athletic

Chelsea do indeed have a ton of games coming up, and potential injuries are always a concern, but we’re also in dire need of finding some stability at the back instead of the constant rotation that Lampard has been (has had to?) utilize. At the moment, that doesn’t look to give Rüdiger many minutes, though I suppose it’s never bad to have more competitiveness in training.