Severe blow for Chelsea as Antonio Rudiger set to join Real Madrid: Report

Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger will be heading to Real Madrid in the summer with a report emerging about a verbal agreement being reached between the player and the Spanish club. The 29-year-old is out of contract this summer and has rejected the offer of a new deal, which is understood to have reached more than £200,000-a-week.

Earlier ESPN reported that sources have reported that the German international has offers on the table above the terms Chelsea was offering and an extension was complicated further by his agent's demands over a high fee for his representatives and a signing-on fee in the region of £10 million.

Antonio Rudiger transfer: Chelsea defender heading to Real Madrid 

According to a tweet from football transfer expert, Fabrizio Romano, Real Madrid is now closing on the Antonio Rudiger deal for free with the final details to be discussed soon before the contract is signed between the two parties. The main reason behind Chelsea failing to negotiate the terms is due to the restrictions imposed following the UK government on owner Roman Abramovich over his ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The government granted a special license to the club to continue operating while a sale is negotiated. Chelsea cannot agree to any fresh contracts with any players which created a window of opportunity for Real Madrid to try and sign the defender.

Chelsea sale: Lewis Hamilton, Serena Williams show interest

Last month the UK government froze the assets of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich over his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Government has said it is still "open" to Chelsea sale but for that, a new application would be needed to carry out the sale procedure. The bank accounts of Chelsea Football Club was "temporarily suspended" with Barclays.

According to Sky Sports,  Lewis Hamilton and Serena Williams are understood to have joined the Sir Martin  Broughton Consortium, which is leading one of the three remaining bids for Chelsea sale. As per the report, the Sir Martin Broughton-led group's other investors include Canada's Rogers family, John Arnold and Taiwan's Tsai family and also added that Hamilton and Williams were keen on joining the bidding process after looking at the diversity of global investors that have joined the consortium.