Real Madrid confirms the signing of Antonio Rudiger but who will drop to the bench on his arrival?

Real Madrid have released an official confirmation of Antonio Rudiger’s arrival as a free agent following the expiration of his contract at Chelsea.

While the move was one of football’s worst kept secrets, Rudiger’s place in the team is not as clear or easy to predict.

On paper, Real Madrid just added the best centre-back in the world to a defence that just won the La Liga and Champions League double.

But that reality, however impressive, is a double-edged sword because Carlo Ancelotti now has to break up the defence that won those trophies to fit in his latest Galactico which is not as easy as it seems.

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Real Madrid currently play different variations of the classic 4-3-3 formation and they have done so consistently for the last decade at least.

Antonio Rudiger on the other hand made his name and drew Real Madrid’s attention by excelling in a three-man defensive setup.

The 29-year old notoriously struggled in a classic back four for the first three years of his Chelsea career before Thomas Tuchel came along.

The question now is whether Carlo Ancelotti would have to change his setup to accommodate Rudiger or just slot him into the current defence and drop someone?

Antonio Rudiger is a marquee signing, arguably the best centre-back in the world right now so there is not expected to be a bedding-in period, he has to play.

This means one of the current starting defenders will have to drop to the bench, but who? That is something for Carlo Ancelotti to worry about this pre-season.

Madrid played the vast majority of this season with a back four consisting of David Alaba and Eder Militao as centre-backs while Ferland Mendy and Dani Carvajal occupied the left and right full-back spots respectively.

Both Alaba and Militao had solid individual seasons, especially the latter who finally appears to be coming into his own.

The 24-year old Brazilian is at a stage in his career where he needs more playing time so he shouldn’t be the one dropped for Rudiger.

That leaves David Alaba who made his name as a left-back and may yet be moved out there for Rudiger to slot in at centre-half but that means Ferland Mendy drops to the bench which is also unfair because the young Frenchman was influential this season.

It has become obvious that whoever gets dropped for Rudiger has every right to feel hard done by but what can Ancelotti do? Some definitely has to give.

Only the coach knows what his plan is but from the outside looking in, it seems the Real Madrid defence will witness a lot of rotation next season.

David Alaba will most likely shuttle between centre-back and left-back and even left centre-back if Ancelotti decides to give the three-man defence a go.

At this point, only one thing is clear which is that Rudiger must play unless he is injured or flopping real hard.