Just What Do We Know About Antonio Rudiger?

Just What Do We Know About Antonio Rudiger?

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Following the announcement of Antonio Rudiger as the first of our, what we hope are, many top-class signings this summer, we thought we`d unveil a few facts about our new defender.

• Rudiger is 24-year-of-age and is perfectly able to play as a centre-back or a right back.

• German by birth, having been born in Berlin, Rudiger has, so far, accumulated 17 caps for the German senior side.

• Rudiger could have chosen to represent Sierra Leone, where his mother was born, but chose Germany.

• The player has represented Germany at every level from U18 upwards.

• The defender spent his formative years at the Borussia Dortmund academy but his big career break came when he achieved his debut with the Stuttgart second-team, who were playing in the third-tier of German football.

• At the tender age of 18, Rudiger made his first-team debut for Stuttgart, with Borussia Monchengladbach being the opposition, with the centre-back going on to make 80 appearances for the senior side in domestic and European fixtures.

• In 2015, Roma realized his potential taking him on loan to Italian football for a fee of €4 million before agreeing, after just one season, to purchase the player for €9 million.

• Standing six feet three inches, Rudiger has the physical attributes to cope with the physicality of the Premier League.

• Rudiger played no part in the Euro 2016 tournament, despite being selected for the squad by Joachim Low he was ruled out by injury.