Antonio Rudiger says he played a part in convincing Timo Werner to come to Chelsea and compared the newly-signed striker to Leicester City star Jamie Vardy.

Werner recently completed a £47.5 million ($59m) deal to join Chelsea and will join the Blues at the end of the season after achieving stardom with RB Leipzig.

For several months, though, it was Liverpool that were expected to win the Werner sweepstakes, with Chelsea’s late push ultimately proving successful.

Rudiger says that, throughout the coronavirus lockdown, he did his best to convince his Germany team-mate that Stamford Bridge was the right place for him to shine as he prepared for a move to the Premier League.

‘I did speak to him before because we have known each other for a long time,’ Rudiger told Chelsea’s official website. ‘We spoke a lot during the lockdown and he told me he was interested in coming to England. Of course, then I did my bit, what I had to do.’

He added: ‘Like everyone, I’m very excited that he’s chosen Chelsea and I’m looking forward to working with him. I’ve known him since he was 17 and he did very good in the past few years. He can be very important for us.’

Werner has fired 32 goals in 44 matches this season, taking his RB Leipzig total up to 93 in 158 games.

The 24-year-old forward has also scored 11 goals in 29 matches for Germany, having been a part of the squad for the 2018 World Cup.

Prior to his breakout at RB Leipzig, Werner was teammates with Rudiger at Stuttgart, and the Chelsea defender says that he’s been impressed with how the striker has grown since the last time they played together at club level.

‘He’s a really big threat to defenders,’ he said. ‘RB Leipzig is a more counter-attacking team but in terms of attacking the defensive line, he’s similar to Vardy. He has a lot of pace and if the defender makes a mistake and loses the ball, then he goes!’

‘His development was just ‘wow’. In his first season everything was new for him in men’s football but then he started scoring more goals and of course with that comes confidence. He had very good coaches who believed in him and worked with him.’