Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has been really impressed with one former Chelsea player this season.
Chelsea have sold and lost a lot of good players recently.
For example, they sold the likes of Kai Havertz and Mason Mount to Arsenal and Manchester United respectively last summer.
The summer before that, they also lost Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen on free transfers.
Rudiger joined Real Madrid in a move that has quickly paid off. In only his second season at the club, the central defender has already won the La Liga title and now the Champions League following his side’s 2-0 triumph over Borussia Dortmund at Wembley on Saturday.
Rio Ferdinand lauds former Chelsea star
Havertz, Mount, Rudiger and Christensen all have a lot of quality.
They were part of a Chelsea team that won the Champions League back in 2021.
However, Ferdinand has singled out Rudiger for praise, putting the 31-year-old in his top five centre-backs in the world right now.
After including Rudiger on his list, the former England captain told GiveMeSport: “He’s been phenomenal in the Champions League.”
Do Chelsea miss Antonio Rudiger?
Chelsea’s defence has not looked the same since Rudiger and Christensen left the club in 2022.
This term, for example, the Blues conceded 63 goals in the Premier League. To put that into perspective, in Rudiger’s final season at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea only conceded 33 times.
Of course, a lot of other things need to be taken into account, such as the fact that Thomas Tuchel is no longer at Chelsea.
His 3-4-3 system, which had Rudiger and two other central defenders playing in it, made the Blues a sturdier side.
However, there is no denying that Chelsea have suffered since losing Rudiger’s influence, which the club tried to replace with the likes of Kalidou Koulibaly and Axel Disasi. They are not bad defenders, but they have proven that they are certainly not Antonio Rudiger.