{"id":27036,"date":"2025-11-19T03:44:43","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T08:44:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2025\/11\/19\/report-chelsea-aim-to-sign-centre-back-to-win-second-consecutive-champions-league\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T03:44:43","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T08:44:43","slug":"report-chelsea-aim-to-sign-centre-back-to-win-second-consecutive-champions-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2025\/11\/19\/report-chelsea-aim-to-sign-centre-back-to-win-second-consecutive-champions-league\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Chelsea aim to sign centre-back to win second consecutive Champions League"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_74 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2025\/11\/19\/report-chelsea-aim-to-sign-centre-back-to-win-second-consecutive-champions-league\/#Will_Real_Madrid_release_Antonio_Rudiger\" >Will Real Madrid release Antonio Rudiger?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2025\/11\/19\/report-chelsea-aim-to-sign-centre-back-to-win-second-consecutive-champions-league\/#Chelsea_need_more_experience_in_defense\" >Chelsea need more experience in defense<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p><strong>According to Ficajes, Chelsea are reportedly exploring the possibility of bringing Antonio Rudiger back to Stamford Bridge in 2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The 32-year-old centre-back left Chelsea to join Real Madrid on a free transfer in 2022, and this could be his final chapter at the Santiago Bernab\u00e9u.<\/p>\n<p>Rudiger&#8217;s contract at Real Madrid is due to enter its final six months in early 2026, and his situation has changed significantly under new manager Xabi Alonso.<\/p>\n<p>The German defender has barely featured this season, with a lingering hamstring injury sidelining him for most of Alonso&#8217;s tenure.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Will_Real_Madrid_release_Antonio_Rudiger\"><\/span>Will Real Madrid release Antonio Rudiger?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Reports in Spain say the injury prematurely ends his playing days until 2025, fueling speculation that Madrid may opt to move on for the veteran centre-back.<\/p>\n<p>Fichajes reported that Real Madrid have no plans to offer Rudiger a contract extension. Instead, La Liga bosses are now willing to sanction his departure as early as the January transfer window in order to at least recoup a small fee rather than lose him for free.<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea sense an opportunity to reunite with one of their former defensive leaders and have already made initial contacts with Rudiger&#8217;s representatives regarding a return to London in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Healthy has submitted an early offer of \u00a37 million to Real Madrid. However, the Spanish champions are understood to consider the offer to be far below their valuation, even taking into account Rudiger&#8217;s age and contract situation.<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea are enduring a difficult situation with injuries to their defense, but the club still boasts considerable depth at centre-back.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Chelsea_need_more_experience_in_defense\"><\/span>Chelsea need more experience in defense<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Antonio Rudiger playing for Real Madrid (Photo by Aitor Alcalde\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Stamford Bridge have the likes of Levi Colwill, Trevor Chalobah, Benoit Badiashile, Wesley Fofana, Tosin Adarabioyo and Josh Achiampong among their names, but Rudiger is a player with plenty of experience and a winning mentality that the Blues&#8217; current defenders lack.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, the opportunity to add an elite and experienced leader like Rudiger, who previously won the Champions League, Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup with Chelsea, remains attractive.<\/p>\n<p>Rudiger is widely regarded as one of the best defenders of his generation. Champions League wins with Chelsea and Real Madrid underline his pedigree, and despite his current injury setbacks, he remains a respected figure in European football.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Former Chelsea attacker chased by Manchester United and Aston Villa<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><!-- Article End -->\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to Ficajes, Chelsea are reportedly exploring the possibility of bringing Antonio Rudiger back to Stamford Bridge in 2026. The 32-year-old centre-back left Chelsea to join Real Madrid on a free transfer in 2022, and this could be his final chapter at the Santiago Bernab\u00e9u. Rudiger&#8217;s contract at Real Madrid is due to enter its [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[40],"class_list":{"0":"post-27036","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}