Rudiger hopes his romance with Chelsea will blossom

Arrival of countryman Thomas Tuchel resurrected his Chelsea career. He was not bad at Stamford Bridge until then - far from it - it was probably just the lack of chemistry with club legend and former manager Frank Lampard.

Now, Antonio Rudiger is one of the pillars of Chelsea's defence and also one of the reasons for their successful end of previous season. Berlin born defender reportedly expressed his wish to stay at Stamford Bridge and is hoping the club wants him to stick around too.

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Fresh reports indicate the 28-year-old is ready to sit down and talk about a contract extension. If such scenario does not happen, he is 'willing to see out the final 12 months of his deal and leave for free next summer'.

Given he has a year remaining on his existing deal, the defender is hoping his representatives soon begin discussions for a new long-term contract in west London, Sky Sports claim.

In order to protect his value ahead of any proposed loan moves, Chelsea were allegedly in the process of extending Rudiger's deal ahead of the January transfer window.

It was rumoured that Rudiger's lack of playing minutes was caused by the German's affect on the dressing room and the teammates - same rumours suggested Rudiger was a disruptive presence and did not see eye-to-eye with the manager.

Even though it was all implying Rudiger has an 'issue' with Lampard only, despite breaking back into the Chelsea fold Rudiger had to be dismissed by Tuchel also - in April, Rudiger ignited an ugly training ground bust-up with goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, for which the German publicly apologised.

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During the period of his stagnation under Lampard, several big names appeared as interested to acquire Rudiger's services - Tottenham, Milan and PSG to name a few.

At the moment, it is a completely different story - atmosphere at Stamford bridge and Cobham training ground is much better and it seems Rudiger has cemented himself as one of the main options in the backline for Tuchel.