Florentino Perez’s Letter to Rudiger in 2016 That Made Him Believe He Would Play for Real Madrid

Real Madrid centre-back Antonio Rudiger has revealed an anecdote about a letter that he received from Florentino Perez back in 2016.

As reported on Marca, the Real Madrid president wished the current Los Blancos player a speedy recovery after suffering an ACL injury during a Germany training session.

“I received a letter from Florentino Perez in 2016, I had the letter every day in front of me and I asked myself: ‘A man like me?'”, Rudiger told Canal+ Afrique.

“Before that letter, Real Madrid seemed far away to me. With the letter I thought ‘one day I will get there’. He wished me a speedy recovery. I couldn’t believe it. My mother has kept it.”

Rudiger went on to reveal when was the moment that he felt that he was ready to make the leap to the LaLiga Santander giants.

“You know when I really realized I could go to Real Madrid?” Rudiger said. “When I won the Champions League with Chelsea, then I knew I could go. At that moment I understood that I was ready to sign for Real Madrid. You want to be on the winning side, you have to go to Real Madrid.”

Rudiger also explained which were the reasons behind his decision to opt for Real Madrid instead of Paris Saint-Germain.

“You were sending me a lot of messages about PSG but I thought: it’s not what I’m looking for,” Rudiger stressed.

“I don’t really have anything against PSG. They are a great club, a nice club, doing everything good. But next to it there is Real Madrid… Real Madrid!

“With all due respect to the other clubs, but here you see the difference. Look at the presentations of Cristiano Ronaldo or [Karim] Benzema. The trophy room, the history in that room”.