Antonio Rudiger has revealed he chose to join Chelsea this summer because of manager Antonio Conte.
The 24-year-old centre-back became Conte’s second signing of the summer when he arrived earlier this month to join experienced goalkeeper Willy Caballero at the club.
Rudiger penned a five-year deal, and he has since been joined at Stamford Bridge by defensive midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko, who completed his move on Sunday.
The German international arrived in west London from Roma for an undisclosed fee, and he has heaped praise on his new manager in an interview with the London Evening Standard.
“We speak about Rome and Chelsea and Chelsea’s a big club,” he said. “Roma’s a big club too in Italy but it’s a different level.
“For me the most [important] reason was the coach, Antonio Conte. He’s a fantastic coach because he improved a lot of players. Last season [Marcos] Alonso and [Victor] Moses played great.”
Rudiger was one of Roma’s top performer’s last term, making 36 appearances across all competitions.
He primarily a centre-back, but he is also comfortable at right-back and at left-back, and was utilised in both positions last season by then Roma manager Luciano Spalletti.
The 24-year-old has been capped on 17 occasions by Germany, and he featured in four matches of their 2017 Confederations Cup winning campaign.
Next season he will fight with Gary Cahill, David Luiz, Cesar Azpilicueta and Kurt Zouma for one of the three centre-back places in Conte’s starting XI.