10 Players Who Stole A Living From Chelsea

8. Florent Malouda

Malouda will probably be a shock inclusion on this list as he was considered by most accounts to have enjoyed a successful Chelsea career which saw him play 149 league games and score 35 goals. He was signed from Lyon for roughly £13 million in 07/08, despite having been strongly attached to Liverpool earlier in the summer. His first season was widely considered disappointing, with him managing a mere four goals in all competitions during a period of upheaval at Stamford Bridge which saw manager Jose Mourinho acrimoniously depart to be replaced by Avram Grant, a figure many fans considered responsible for the loss of the manager who had guided the club to their first league wins since 1955. Malouda's second season saw some improvement, putting nine goals and nine assists in the bag, but it was the following two years in which he truly came into his own, scoring fifteen goals and as many assists in 09/10 and being the club's top league goalscorer in 10/11. Despite the club winning the Champions League the following year, his form severely declined as he struggled to get regular playing time. The real trouble started when he put in a transfer request the following summer, which the club accepted along with a number of bids from foreign clubs. Unfortunately, with a year left on his contract, Malouda refused to consider any move which didn't match his £80k per week wages. Furious at the player's intransigence, the club issued strict instructions that Malouda was no longer to be considered an option for first team selection and would spend his final year training with the under-21s. Unusually for this list, Malouda can be widely considered to have had a generally successful Chelsea career, with at least two excellent seasons in five years at the club. Unfortunately, his refusal to accept a lesser-paying move elsewhere in his final year saw his time at the club end under a shadow, putting money before a love of the game.