Antonio Rudiger sounded out Claude Makélélé before signing for Real Madrid. The Frenchman convinced him.
The sale of Claude Makélélé in 2003 has always been blamed on Florentino Perez and the management in place at the time. The Frenchman was the guarantor of the Galacticos’ balance, much like Casemiro more than a decade later. This time, the mistake was not repeated, and the rest is history.
The former French international played for Real Madrid for three seasons and 145 competitive matches, which was enough time for him to acclimate to the unique atmosphere surrounding the club. In fact, that’s why Rudiger went to see him to interview him in 2022.
Indeed, in FreeFoot, Claude Makélélé revealed the brief discussion he had with the German while Real Madrid was interested in him. “Look at him now at Real Madrid. The first thing he did when he had this opportunity to sign for Real Madrid was to come to me and ask: ‘What do you think?’” the Frenchman recalled.
“I told him, ‘Run, this is your opportunity.’ Yet, he had Bayern, PSG… I said to him, ‘Do you want to win titles?’ You’ve already won them, you have everything, but do you really want to become a player of that caliber? Go to Real Madrid. Go and rub shoulders with the great players and you’ll understand what it means to be happy,” he recounted.
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