Former Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta believes Blues fans saw hardly any of a player who was in his opinion the best in the world when he joined the club.
The Spaniard racked up more than 500 appearances for the club across nearly 12 years, establishing himself as one of the better defenders Chelsea fans have ever seen.
Azpilicueta won every trophy on offer during his time in West London, and played alongside some of the best defenders of all time, including John Terry and Thiago Silva.
He started his shift to the centre-back position under Jose Mourinho, with the club making the signing of Filipe Luis ahead of the 2014/15 season.
Cesar Azpilicueta says Chelsea signed one of the best in the world in Filipe Luis
The Brazil international struggled to establish himself as a regular during his time at Stamford Bridge, making just 26 appearances before departing the club.
Despite his short spell, Azpilicueta was left to sweat on his place in the side, with him believing that Chelsea had signed the best left-back in the world at the time.
He told Flashscore: “Then Filipe Luis joined Chelsea, which was a… maybe the best left back at the moment. That gave me competition, that gave me a way of helping the team and bring something different and I had to step up and, yeah, I played a lot and I really enjoyed it. I played alongside John Terry on the left side, which was for me like a masterpiece of learning how to defend.”
Azpilicueta would go on to lock down the left-back position for a number of years before the arrivals of Marcos Alonso and Ben Chilwell, with him then returning to feature at right-back and centre-back.
Filipe Luis tipped for future Chelsea return
Since retiring as a player, Luis has gone into management, and is currently in charge of Flamengo in Brazil.
Luis masterminded a victory against the Blues during the Club World Cup, and has been tipped for big things in his new career as a head coach.
Zico has tipped Luis to become Chelsea manager in the future, potentially replacing Enzo Maresca if his time at Stamford Bridge comes to an end.
The Italian is currently more than safe in his role, however the cut-throat nature of Premier League football means a major decision from Todd Boehly could come at any time.