Chelsea defensive ace Antonio Rudiger has revealed that his career began very differently, as he originally played as a winger.
Position swap is not an unusual occurrence in the round leather game as his team mate and back four partner at Chelsea, Fikayo Tomori also revealed that he once played as a centre forward.
Rudiger, who joined Chelsea from AS Roma in 2017 has so far made 120 appearances for the Blues featuring as a defender for both clubs.
The German international went further to disclosed he was joined by USMNT star John Brooks and twice capped Jerome Kiesewetter as part of a three-man forward line.
“I played at Hertha Zehlendorf in the attack together with John Brooks who is a Bundesliga defender at Wolfsburg today.
“We played with a three-man forward line: John in the middle, me on the left and Jerome Kiesewetter, who now plays for Inter Miami in the USA, on the right,” Rudiger told T-Online.
“Jerome and I were pretty fast, John was technically good and very tall early on – he mostly headed the balls in from the centre. We were very good, and that’s how we came to the attention of the professional clubs – at that time, it was the winger Antonio Rudiger!
“John then went to Hertha and was retrained as a central defender. I switched to BVB and also became a defender. Jerome remained a striker.”
Rudiger has featured 37 times for Germany and was part of the squad that won the 2017 Confederations Cup.
The 27-year-old was in action for the Blues in their 1-1 draw with Aston Villa as they sit sixth in the Premier League ahead of a scheduled clash with Manchester City on Sunday.
