10 Players Who Probably Regret Joining Chelsea
5. Shaun Wright-Phillips
The setting is Manchester, and the blue half is an uninviting, drab proposition. It is three years before the oil money transformation, and they have been living in their Mancunian counterparts shadow for the last number of decades. With Robbie Fowler having missed a last-minute penalty against Middlesbrough on the final day of the season, in what was essentially a UEFA Cup play-off, any semblance of European football for the following season had been surrendered. It wasnt exactly an exciting time to be a Man City supporter, and a far cry from the success that they would become accustomed to in later years. However, the nagging fear that had plagued their thoughts for the previous 9 months had been realised their star player wanted out.
23 year old Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips, armed with an arsenal of blistering pace and an eye for goal, had spent the previous few seasons pulverizing defences. Breathtakingly quick and elusive, Arsenal legend Ian Wrights son had forced his way into the England set-up, as many touted him to succeed the soon to be departed David Beckham.
Having forced an exit from Man City, Wright-Phillips will have wished that he had chosen his destination more carefully. If Champions League football were his ambitions, then Liverpool would surely have offered him a starting berth at the expense of Jermaine Pennant. But no, he joined Premier League champions Chelsea in a £21 million move. One must give the player credit for backing himself to break into a side with such healthy competition already existing on the wings in the form of Joe Cole, Arjen Robben and Damien Duff, but inevitably, his ambitions hit the ceiling.
He started only 15 times in his debut season, failing to find the net until December 2006. By then, Eriksson had made the decision to omit him from the 2006 World Cup squad. Unsurprisingly, he failed to command a regular starting role at Chelsea, and suffered the heartbreak of omission from the matchday squad for the 2008 Champions League final. Throughout his Chelsea career, he started only five more games than he had appeared as a substitute. Wright-Phillips eventually grew tired of the ratio, and meekly returned to Man City with his tail very much between his legs.
His halo had certainly slipped, no longer revered as the golden boy of English football. Theo Walcott was establishing himself as the main man on the right hand side of the English midfield, while Wright-Phillips was left to ponder just what he had been doing for the last three years.