Chelsea have finally signed Antonio Rudiger from AS Roma in a £34m deal.
The Blues announced the signing of the center half who will earn £77,000 per week at Stamford Bridge.
There were earlier reports the Italian has flown in to London to finalize the deal with a medical.
Subsequently, Italian journalist Matteo Pedrosi tweeted a photo of Rudiger putting pen to paper.
#Rudiger #Chelsea, manca solo l'annuncio! 👇 #Ruediger 🇩🇪bye #Roma pic.twitter.com/y7PBY5USKj
— Matteo Pedrosi (@MatteoPedrosi) July 9, 2017
Chelsea have been in search of a defender after the departures of club legend John Terry and Nathan Ake to Aston Villa and Bournemouth respectively.
The pair left Chelsea with Antonio Conte looking to build a strong squad ahead of next season but the club have seen their bids fail for several top players across Europe including Leonardo Bonucci and Alex Sandro.
The Premier League champions also recently lost out on Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United.
Rudiger joins Chelsea after two years in Rome. The central defender joined Roma after breaking into the Vfb Stuttgart first team and has since established himself as a sought after central defender.
Chelsea’s Technical director Michael Emelano was bouyant after the signing of the contract.
We are pleased to be able to bring in a player of proven quality who adds to our defensive options.
Antonio is still young but is experienced at club and international level and possesses all the requisite attributes to thrive in the Premier League. We have been aware of him for some time and we are confident he will fit in well with the squad.
Michael Emelano, Chelsea
Chelsea will now turn their attention to the deals to bring in Tiemoue Bakayoko and sorting out the further of Diego Costa with reports saying the Spanish striker is ready to have showdown talks with Conte on Monday.
