Jorginho says Antonio Rudiger will be a significant loss for Chelsea as Real Madrid reportedly close in on a deal for the centre-back.
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel revealed following Sunday’s late win over West Ham that Rudiger intends to leave the club when his contract expires at the end of the season.
Tuchel suggested that Rudiger’s decision was due to the financial restrictions imposed on Chelsea.
Meanwhile a new owner to succeed Roman Abramovich is being sought.
According to widespread reports on Tuesday, Madrid has had no such problem agreeing on terms with Rudiger and an announcement is expected to be made imminently.
The Germany international has spent five seasons at Stamford Bridge, and Jorginho admits his team-mate’s absence will be felt both on the pitch and off it.
He told Sky Sports News:
“He’s been here a long time, so if he leaves, we’re going to miss him.
“He’s a big personality, and he’s helped us a lot.
“We’ve had amazing times here; he’s a good friend of mine, and of course, if he leaves, everyone at the club will miss him, not just me.”
Asked what he will miss the most about Rudiger, Jorginho said: “His craziness. He makes me laugh a lot; all of his jokes and laughs we’ve had together – that’s the nice part.”
Rudiger has started 47 games this season, five more than any other Chelsea player, with Jorginho sixth on that list (42 appearances).
Indeed, no player from a club in Europe’s top five leagues started more matches in 2021-22 when considering all competitions.
Rudiger played no part in Chelsea’s victory over West Ham last time out. However, a game in which Jorginho missed a penalty before Christian Pulisic snatched a late win.
Jorginho was criticised for his spot-kick style after sending his effort straight at goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.
But the midfielder suggested VAR was partly to blame for the miss.
He said:
“This sort of pressure, especially in games like this when you need to win, and it’s last minute, you try to isolate your mind from all that pressure even though it’s hard,”
“Then you have the VAR, so it takes longer. So it’s harder to keep focus.
“What you need to do and what I try to do is isolate my mind from all this pressure.
“And unfortunately, it didn’t work this time.”
Before his penalty miss against West Ham, Jorginho had converted each of his last 13 for Chelsea (excluding shoot-outs) in a run stretching back to Boxing Day 2020.
The Italy international added:
“When you have that little moment of doubt, you usually make a mistake.
“Maybe I had too much time to think about it. I don’t know.
“This time, it went like that, and I’m sorry. I feel bad because it’s not a nice feeling.”
Likewise, for more football news like this, click here.
