10 Chelsea Players Who Weren't Worth The Hassle

9. Alexei Smertin

The Russian midfielder was picked up from Bordeaux in Abramovich's first transfer window amid a splurge on some truly top level talent. No-one really believed Smertin fit that category and apparently neither did Chelsea, shipping him off immediately on loan to Portsmouth and rather hilariously labelling him 'one for the future'. He was 28 at the time. Smertin nevertheless gave a decent show of himself at Pompey, proving himself an assertive presence in midfield and helping the newly promoted club to an unexpected 14th place finish. He subsequently demanded a chance to prove himself at his parent club and was welcomed under the wing of new manager Jose Mourinho, where he made 16 appearances as the club won the Premier League for the first time since 1955. Unfortunately, with Lampard, Makelele, Tiago and Scott Parker as competition, the Russian was mostly fielded from the bench and never looked likely to displace Lampard and Makelele, even with Tiago and Parker having similar difficulty adapting to the demands of the club. Smertin left the club on loan once again, with a season at Charlton seeing him hit good form once again and earning a transfer to Dynamo Moscow the following year for £1 million. The Russian was a hard worker and a solid midfield cog, but never looked like a player able to reach the level expected of a Chelsea player. The question of why he was signed in the first place persists, with many believing it may have been new Blues owner Roman Abramovich doing a favour for one of his mysterious oligarch mates. Chelsea didn't lose too much money on him and got a decent squad player in Mourinho's first season, so while he certainly wasn't a complete waste of time, it's just baffling why the club picked him up to begin with.
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Contributor

28-year old English writer with a borderline obsessive passion for films, videogames, Chelsea FC, incomprehensible words and indefensible puns. Follow me on Twitter if you like infrequent outbursts of absolute drivel.