10 Chelsea Players Who Weren't Worth The Hassle

7. Salomon Kalou

In contrast to Diarra, whose attitude was all wrong from the start and eventually led to his downfall, Ivorian forward Salomon Kalou was a hard worker who accepted the need for him to prove himself worthy of a first team place. He was a favourite among the Chelsea players and staff, enjoying a long stay at the club before eventually moving to Lille after six years. So what was the problem? Quite simply that despite both the club and the player doing more or less everything right, the early potential hinted at in his nascent years at Feyenoord, where he scored 35 goals in 69 appearances, never transformed him into the world class player many had expected. He actually scored some important goals for Chelsea, but was deeply inconsistent and never managed to hold down a first team place or score more than 10 league goals in a single season. It should be noted that despite struggling to produce the goods on a regular basis, he nevertheless ended up in double figures for goals and assists in his second and third seasons. His 60 goals and 40 assists across just over 250 appearances in all competitions for the Blues certainly isn't bad by any means, yet he never really looked like taking the step up from being a good player to a great one. Having cost the club £9 million in 2006, he left for a free in 2012. You won't find many fans bearing any grudges against him as he was likeable, professional and positive throughout, but his was one of those unfortunate instances where his talent peaked far earlier than expected.