Chelsea contract rebel Antonio Rudiger wants to bank almost £60m with the mega move to Real Madrid

ANTONIO RUDIGER is set to rake in almost £60m with his mega move to Real Madrid.

The defender is on his way from Chelsea to the Spanish giants and the transfer could be announced as early as this week.

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German Rüdiger, 29, has signed a four-year deal which, when wages and admission fee are added together, averages almost £300,000 a week.

It eclipses what Chelsea were willing to offer to keep their star inside half and boss Thomas Tuchel will now focus on signing a replacement.

And that will likely mean a fresh attempt to sign Jules Kounde from Sevilla once his club’s ownership issue is resolved.

Tuchel almost landed the France centre-back last summer, only for Sevilla to raise the price from £42m to £68m overnight.

Kounde still wants to leave in the summer, by which time Chelsea should have new owners and funding restrictions lifted again.

The club is currently operating under a special license granted by the government in light of sanctions against Russian owner Roman Abramovich.

They are forbidden from buying and selling players and negotiating new deals with existing ones, and this has hampered attempts to hang on to stars like Rudiger.

Chelsea were willing to make him the best-paid defender in their history at more than £200,000 a week, but that wasn’t enough.

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Rudiger is leaving and will almost certainly be joined in Spain by team-mate Andreas Christensen, who has agreed a verbal deal with Madrid’s big rivals Barcelona.

Tuchel admitted on Sunday that the sanctions have damaged Chelsea’s power in the transfer market.

Rookies Trevoh Chalobah and Malang Sarr are getting more playing time, but losing two top-ranked defenders at once is a huge blow.

It could be three, with Cesar Azpilicueta also out of contract and wanted by Barca – although Chelsea could trigger a one-year extension clause to persuade him to stay.