German national team star Antonio Rudiger recently signed a one year contract extension at Real Madrid, with new manager Jose Mourinho approving his stay at the club as a veteran presence while he works on overhauling the team into a stronger unit with more of a defensive backbone.
Rudiger already has four new teammates to welcome, including three new defenders. Marc Cucurella, another former Chelsea star, is coming to start at left back, while Ibrahima Konate is a potential new center back partner for the German and right back Denzel Dumfries from the Dutch national team is set to compete with Trent Alexander-Arnold.
But Real Madrid are far from done. Mourinho is still hunting another defensive signing, and many people think his next target will be a left footed central defender. And one of the best and most readily available targets is Rudiger's German national teammate Nico Schlotterbeck, who has a release clause at 60 million euros or less.
Antonio Rudiger is ready to welcome a teammate
Speaking to the media, Antonio Rudiger tried to play it cool with the Real Madrid links to his German national teammates Felix Nmecha and Schlotterbeck, both from Borussia Dortmund, but you could tell that he would be in favor of Real Madrid signing Schlotty from Germany's second biggest club.
Rudiger said of Schlotterbeck as a player, via Sky Sports Germany's Florian Plettenberg, “Nico has always been a threat, especially from set pieces. He’s aggressive, he’s always there in duels and his build-up play is outstanding. His left foot is gold.”
It is impossible not to agree with Rudiger's assessment of Nico Schlotterbeck if you have watched him play. Yes, he can be overly aggressive and make some bad mistakes, but we said the same things about some of the greatest Real Madrid center backs ever, including Pepe and Sergio Ramos. And even Rudiger had that problem in 2023/24 but was still massive in Real winning the Champions League.
Schlotterbeck is both a Jose Mourinho and Real Madrid coded player. This is a young man who leaves his blood, sweat, and tears out there on the football pitch. He will play through any pain, inflict any punishment on the opposition, and hold down an entire half of the pitch on his own.
Yet he also has the quality to rule the game as a passer and even come up and score goals with his individual quality. It is easy to see why Mourinho wants him and even easier to see why teammates present and future like Rudiger endorse him, too.
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