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‘World’s best’… Mesut Ozil thinks Chelsea have got so much worse since 30-year-old left the club

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Former Real Madrid and Arsenal star Mesut Ozil believes Chelsea are missing one player that left the club in the last few years.

He took to Twitter to state that he believes the mentality of the Blues has been nowhere near the same since Antonio Rudiger left the club back in 2022.

The departure of Rudiger was the first big issue that Todd Boehly and the new ownership team had to deal with.

Chelsea FC v Real Madrid: Quarterfinal Second Leg - UEFA Champions League
Photo by Vincent Mignott/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

The Blues had failed to agree a new contract with the German under the old regime, and this has actually had an impact on how the American is looking to run the club.

With an ambition to not let players leave the club for free any longer, they made the difficult decision to sell Mason Mount last summer.

The England international and Rudiger were key members of the Champions League victory in 2021, however Ozil believes the Blues have got so much weaker since the latter left.

Ozil praises Rudiger

He said: “Prime Toni Rüdiger is just the world’s best defender at the moment.

“Incredible season for my former club Real Madrid. You can also ask Haaland or Osimhen how good he is! Look what has happened with Chelsea after he left … they are missing his mentality every day.”

Andreas Christensen also left in the same transfer window, and the duo are yet to really be replaced at Stamford Bridge.

The original addition made to try and do this was Kalidou Koulibaly, however he was sent off to Saudi Arabia after just one unimpressive season.

They are now looking to go down the route of youngsters to try and improve their future prospects at the back, with the likes of Levi Colwill and Benoit Badiashile playing a lot if minutes when they are both fit and available.