5 players who did not deserve to play for Chelsea

Chelsea are one of the biggest clubs in the world and have been home to a number of global superstars. The likes of Didier Drogba, Gianfranco Zola, John Terry, Frank Lampard and Eden Hazard have all earned legendary status at the club.

Apart from that the Blues have also had players like Alvaro Morata, Fernando Torres and Andriy Shevchenko who did not have the best of times at Stamford Bridge.

But one thing common among these players is that they were good enough to deserve the opportunity to play for Chelsea.

Few Chelsea players did not deserve to don the Blue jersey

But apart from the aforementioned players, Chelsea had some footballers who were simply not good enough to play for the club. One might even wonder why the Blues decided to sign them in the first place.

Here we take a look at five such players who did not deserve to play for Chelsea:

#5 Enrique de Lucas

Lucas managed to stay for just one season at Chelsea

Enrique de Lucas arrived at Chelsea from Espanyol on a free transfer in 2002, just a year before Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich took over the club. It was a strange move from the club, who quickly realized that De Lucas wasn't good enough to play in the English top-flight.

The bustling midfielder, who either operated in the middle or wide on the right, was initially impressive. But before long he was out of the side, his profligacy in front of goal and a penchant for picking up needless bookings counted against him.

A goal against Norwegian side Viking Stavanger in the UEFA Cup proved to be his only strike for the club. Lucas only made 21 starts that season before moving back to Spain to join Alaves. The Spaniard had a three-year spell at Celta Vigo before retiring from professional football in 2014.

#4 Asier del Horno

Asier del Horno arrived at Chelsea from Athletic Bilbao for £8 million in the summer of 2005. The defender had arrived with a reputation as a player who was better going forward than defending. However, if his one season at Stamford Bridge is anything to go by, this reputation was thoroughly undeserved, considering he was poor in both aspects.

The only highlight of his Chelsea career was his knee-high tackle on a 17-year-old Lionel Messi that earned him a red card and cost Chelsea the Champions League tie.

Del Horno did manage to make 34 appearances across all competitions for the Blues, however his performances were never up to the standards of a Premier League player.

The Spain international won the Premier League in his only season at the club. Chelsea ultimately booked a loss on him as they sold him to Valencia for £4.8m just 12 months after his arrival.

#3 Jes Hogh

When John Terry was ready to play first-team football at Chelsea, the club tried to make sure he'd wait patiently by bringing in Jes Hogh. The Danish defender arrived from Fenerbahce in 1999 and at the age of 33, he was clearly past his prime.

Signed for around £300,000, Hogh found competition tough from the likes of Marcel Desailly, Frank Leboeuf and Mario Melchiot. As such, the centre-back ended up playing just 16 games for the Blues during his two seasons. That was almost the same number of games that he played for the Dutch national team during that time.

A serious ankle injury forced Hogh into an early retirement and the defender left the club in 2001.

Hogh later became a commentator in the game but a stroke in 2007 forced him to give up that career as well. He has now found solace in playing golf after that debacle. Truly one of the signings that made very little sense.

#2 Tal Ben Haim

After putting in a few impressive outings in the Premier league at Bolton Wanderers, Tal Ben Haim attracted interest from a number of clubs. It was Chelsea who eventually managed to snap him up in the summer of 2007.

The Israeli was fourth in the pecking order, with the likes of John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho and Alex ahead of him. However, injuries to Terry and Carvalho allowed Ben Haim an extended run in the first-team.

But the real highlight of his Chelsea career came in April 2008, when Ben Ham hit out at his manager Avram Grant after a draw against Wigan saying:

"If I knew Avram Grant was going to be the coach, I would have signed for another club. It was Jose Mourinho who brought me here and no one except he and I know the conversation when he tried to sign me the first time a year ago last January."

The comments angered the Chelsea hierarchy and Ben Haim was fined two weeks' wages for his outburst. He wasn't a Chelsea player for much longer as the club sold him to Manchester City the following summer.

#1 Papy Djilobodji

WAC RZ Pellets v Chelsea - Friendly Match

Perhaps one of the club's strangest and worst ever signings, Papy Djilobodji arrived at Chelsea after the club had failed in their pursuit of Everton's John Stones.

The Senegalese joined the club from Nantes for £4 million, but his career at Chelsea was extremely short-lived.

The centre-back was omitted from Chelsea's Champions League squad just one day after his signing. While 10 days later, Jose Mourinho admitted in a press conference that Djilobodji wasn't his signing and that the team would be very unlucky if they had to use him.

The 32-year-old was given just a one-minute cameo against Walsall in a League Cup tie and that was that.

Djilobodji was packed off on loan to Werder Bremen just six months after he arrived and was sold to Sunderland in the summer of 2016.

His contract at the Stadium of Light was torn up in the summer of 2018 after he reported back for pre-season a month late and comprehensively failed a fitness test. He's now playing in Turkey with Gaziantep FK.

About the author

Football Enthusiast from Nashik, India. Chelsea FC fan.

I can't keep calm when football's on.

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Edited by Nived Zenith