Antonio Rudiger has revealed that returning to Germany last season was not an option before his switch to Real Madrid from Chelsea.
The German centre-back completed a free transfer to Los Blancos in the summer transfer window.
Both he, Andreas Christensen and Marcos Alonso opted to leave the Blues for Spanish sides handing Chelsea a defensive dilemma.
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The west London side were forced to bring in recruitments and added Kalidou Koulibaly, Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana to their backline.
It has not been an instant fix for Chelsea though, and they are missing 29-year-old Rudiger who was one of their best players last season.
Currently, the Blues sit in seventh position in the Premier League and are bottom of their Champions League group as well.
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On top of that, Thomas Tuchel has been sacked and replaced by former Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Graham Potter.
For last year's Champions League winners and Rudiger however, the season has begun flawlessly.
After a win against Atletico Madrid, the Spanish side have won nine from a possible nine in competitive games this season.
Rudiger has featured in every one of these matches and is now away with Germany on Nations League duty.
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In League A Group 3 he will take on Hungary on Friday and then England on Monday as Germany look to take top spot of the group.
Despite playing for his country, speaking to SPORT1 the defender has revealed there were no plans for a move to Germany this summer.
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When asked whether it was an option for him, he responded: "There were only two options for me: either I stay at Chelsea I go to Real. Germany was not a serious issue."
He also went on to talk about when he found out about the change from London to Madrid.
He said: "At the end of April it became really concrete. But before everything was clear, my brother fooled me a bit.
"We played with Chelsea against Real in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
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"After the first-leg defeat, he suddenly said to me: "Toni, I don't know if this will still work! In the second leg you have to show everything so that the change orks." My head was shattered, that spurred me on."
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The performance from Rudiger in the second leg was immense, and although Chelsea failed to advance, he certainly impressed.
While his move away from Stamford Bridge is a disappointing one for Chelsea fans, Rudiger has a lot to look forward to at the Bernabeu.
Topics: Chelsea, Real Madrid, Antonio Rudiger, Football