Antonio Rudiger held talks with Real Madrid over weekend while missing Chelsea’s West Ham game | OneFootball

Antonio Rudiger missed both of Chelsea’s games last week with injury, although it was notable we didn’t even see him pictured in the stands at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, despite the fact his name was in the headlines.

It was confirmed by his manager Thomas Tuchel that he was leaving the club in the buildup to the game, and you can imagine the directors on Sky Sports were desperately scanning the crowd looking for a shot of him.

They couldn’t find him though – and perhaps now we know why.

Jacob Steinberg’s piece on the game explains that the defender “held positive talks with the Bernabeu club’s hierarchy over the weekend.”

Of course we’re not suggesting he jetted off to Spain – they could have come to London, or maybe the whole thing happened via Zoom.

All we know is that he certainly wasn’t watching Chelsea in person.

We understand why, but it’s so sad we’ve reached this stage.