10 Chelsea Players Who Weren't Worth The Hassle

4. Hernan Crespo

A marquee early signing of the Abramovich era, Crespo reportedly took some convincing to leave Inter Milan, who seemingly only sold the player to pull off some rather shifty accounting tricks. The Argentine never looked or acted like he was particularly enthusiastic playing for his new club and despite arriving with a big reputation, only managed a disappointing 12 goals in his first season and didn't look too fussed about frequently losing his place to veteran striker Jimmy Floyd Hassebaink. His attitude off the field was reportedly no better than on it, with younger players becoming disillusioned at all the allowances that Crespo was given for his bad behaviour. That quickly changed once the avuncular Claudio Ranieri was shown the door and Jose Mourinho came storming back through it, immediately picking up the striker for his lack of professionalism. The legend goes that with Crespo called into his new boss' office and several players listening at the door outside, the Argentine feigned an inability to speak English as a way of mocking Mourinho, only for the Portuguese to immediately swap languages and continue his rant, twice as assertively, in Italian. While possibly an urban legend, it has been pinpointed as the moment Mourinho won the squad's respect and Crespo was shuffled off on loan to Milan, making room for Didier Drogba. With Drogba not fully convincing in his first season and drawing supporters' ire for repeated diving and unsportsmanlike behaviour, Crespo was given a second chance at Chelsea but despite scoring a barnstomer in the club's Premier League opener against Wigan, he looked just as disaffected in his second spell as his first, beating his original goal tally by only one despite managing eleven more appearances. Not many players have had two chances to prove their worth and looked so bored on both occasions. You'd think the club would've learnt their lesson about signing players based on reputation alone, but a certain Spaniard certainly disproved that six years later.