New Real Madrid player Antonio Rüdiger named an African legend who was his childhood idol, and it is not Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o or Jay-Jay Okocha.

After a five-year spell at Chelsea, the German centre-back left the Blues at the end of 2021/22 season as his contract runs out at the end of this month.

So far, Rüdiger completed his move to Real Madrid where the expectations around him are high.

Speaking to Spanish outlet Marca, the former AS Roma player who evoked his move to the 14-time Champions league winners, was invited to name his childhood idols.

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And Antonio Rüdiger revealed he started his career playing as a forward before turning as a defender at 16.

However, the player the Sierra Leone-born enjoyed watching the most was not Eto’o nor Drogba.

“I’m very proud and I still don’t realise what this all means, because I haven’t even been to Madrid yet. I will go with all my family as soon as I finish with the German national team, and then I think I will finally realise what signing for Real Madrid means”, he said about the move.

“When I was little, I was a striker. In fact, it wasn’t until I was 16 years old that I started playing defence. My idols were George Weah and Ronaldo Nazario,” the 29-year old added.

George who became Libera president is considered by many as the greatest African player of all-time and he remains the one and only African to have ever won the France Football Ballon d’Or (in 1995).