10 Players Who Did Nothing At Chelsea (But Excelled For Their Country)

5. Adrian Mutu

There is only one person to blame for Adrian Mutu€™s failure to realise his potential at Stamford Bridge, and that is Adrian Mutu. The Romanian striker spoiled his £15.8 million move by failing a drugs test for cocaine, and was subsequently released 13 months after signing. The whole affair resulted in a protracted court saga that lasted six years, with Chelsea trying to squeeze as much compensation out of their breach-out-of-contract flop as possible. At least when the scandal broke, supporters finally had an answer as to why their Romanian had just six goals in 28 appearances to show for his €˜efforts€™. The undeniably talented four time Romanian Football of the Year has excelled for his country, however. Having featured for his nation at Euro 2000, he had to wait until Euro 2008 to taste his second slice of international tournament football. He duly scored the country€™s only goal in the tournament, netting against Italy before seeing a penalty saved by Gianluigi Buffon which could have guaranteed the Romanians a place in the next round. Of course, Mutu€™s demons have resurfaced, and national coaches have expressed concerns about selecting their country€™s talisman, with the former Juventus hit-man receiving a ban from international football in the summer of 2011 for drinking at a bar on the eve of a friendly match against San Marino. The ban was soon lifted, but he was once again barred after posting an image of the manager as Mr Bean on a social media site. There is no denying that he has been Romania€™s best player of the last 20 years however, having equalled the all-time record of 35 goals set by Gheorge Hagi in a 2014 World Cup qualifier. It€™s just a shame that it was Mutu€™s own negligence and immaturity that cost him the chance to add to his 77 caps and surpass Hagi as the nation€™s all-time record scorer.