Tottenham Hotspur had a deal in place to sign Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger on loan for the 2020-21 season, but the player pulled out of the move on transfer deadline day, according to The Athletic.
Spurs were seemingly looking for a late defender deal to complete a wonderful summer of transfer business, but in the end ran out of time in their pursuit of multiple targets.
The latest report suggests Tottenham could have landed Rudiger, but the Chelsea man opted not to join the Lilywhites due to the potential for fan disdain given there is no love lost between the London rivals.
Looking at it objectively, the German is a decent defender that can do a job at Premier League level, but was never going to be a player that would take Spurs to the next level.
Taking a player on loan from Chelsea was never going to be a good look for Tottenham, with the fans surely not warming to Rudiger as a result.
With talk that Spurs are pursuing a deal for rising Swansea City star Joe Rodon, the club can still add quality to Jose Mourinho’s squad without needing to turn to poaching players from a rival club.
Rudiger has looked like the weak link any time Tottenham have played Chelsea and as such I’m sure not many Spurs fans will be overly concerned at missing out on the German’s contentious loan arrival.