Antonio Rüdiger confirms key role in Timo Werner signing for Chelsea

Antonio Rüdiger has dished out inconsistent defensive showings throughout the season, including in his latest game, against Aston Villa on Sunday, but perhaps he’s being distracted by his secret-agenting duties along with having the responsibility of leading the Chelsea defensive line.

As it turns out, Agent Toni has been a busy bee, chatting up one Timo Werner — as rumored at the time — and telling him all about the best team in London.

"I did speak to him before because we have known each other for a long time. We spoke a lot during the lockdown and he told me he was interested in coming to England. Of course then I did my bit, what I had to do.

"I would say he’s a quiet, humble guy, always ready to do better. I hope he adapts very quickly when he comes because as we all know this competition is different than others."

Rüdiger is well acquainted with Werner from their days together not only on the German national team, but way back at the start of their careers at Stuttgart. Now they’re set to reunited again, and hopefully the feeling (and the results) will be just as good.

"Like everyone, I’m very excited that he’s chosen Chelsea and I’m looking forward to working with him. I’ve known him since he was 17 and he did very good in the past few years. He can be very important for us.

"His development was just 'wow'. In his first season everything was new for him in men’s football but then he started scoring more goals and of course with that comes confidence. He had very good coaches who believed in him and worked with him."

For Rüdiger, Werner's mix of pace and ability to exploit space is just like a certain Jamie Vardy, who’s currently leading the Premier League goalscoring charts and is set to reach 20 Premier League goals for the third time in five seasons. If Werner can provide similar numbers — even if Chelsea generally play a different style than Leicester — he’s going to be a great success at Stamford Bridge.

"He’s a really big threat to defenders. RB Leipzig is a more counter-attacking team but in terms of attacking the defensive line, he’s similar to Vardy. He has a lot of pace and if the defender makes a mistake and loses the ball, then he goes!"

-Antonio Rüdiger; source: Chelsea FC

Good job, Agent Toni! Now, how about working your magic on Kai Havertz?