Like most Chelsea players, Antonio Rudiger would have been slightly nervous in the summer as Maurizio Sarri took over at Stamford Bridge.
There were endless reports of the former Napoli manager looking to buy defenders from Serie A, and a new manager always has different ideas.
In central defence the man to suffer has been Andreas Christensen and there’s a reasonable chance the Dane will leave in January, but Rudiger now looks key for Sarri.
The 25 year old German international has played in all nine Premier League matches so far, and on Saturday got his first goal of the season.
Wriggling away from Paul Pogba, Rudiger made no mistake with his header and put Chelsea into the lead against Manchester United.
Gazzetta dello Sport were clearly impressed with his all-round performance, with the Italian newspaper naming the defender in their European Team of the Week.
Each Monday Gazzetta choose a selection from around Europe, ignoring their own Serie A, and Rudiger is in there with a rating of 7.5, which is high for the publication.
