Antonio Rudiger says he played a role in convincing Timo Werner to join Chelsea this summer – and hopes to have had the same effect on Kai Havertz who is on the verge of joining the Blues.
Chelsea are set to pay an initial club record fee of £72m for the 21-year-old midfielder in a deal that will take their summer spending beyond £200m.
Havertz met up with the Germany squad in Stuttgart yesterday but his move to Stamford Bridge is edging closer to completion.
Rudiger is also with the national team squad and appeared confident of the Bayer Leverkusen star joining him in west London very soon.
“Everything went well with Timo Werner, so I made my contribution,” Rudiger said at a press conference on Tuesday ahead of Germany’s Nations League clashes with Spain and Switzerland. “And I hope that it works again now [with Havertz].”
‘Agent Rudiger’ played a similar role earlier this summer when Chelsea were on the verge of signing Werner from RB Leipzig - with the striker later revealing the centre-half was key in his decision to head to London.
“There wasn’t really a better person I could talk to than him. I asked him what it’s like, what the environment is like, what the coach is like,” Werner said.
“He was positive about it all. It would have been strange for him to say different, though!
“He was full of praise. He said that the city was incredible and that you can only be happy there so it was useful to be able to talk to him, and he really helped me in making my decision.”
