8. Steve Sidwell
Rebecca Naden/PA Archive/Press Association ImagesAnother one-season wonder at Chelsea was Steve Sidwell, with fans wondering what on earth their club saw in the central midfielder when they took him from Reading in 2007. With Frank Lampard and Michael Essien boasting a stranglehold on the central midfield berths at Stamford Bridge at the time, it was less a question of why Sidwell didn't make the grade, and more a question of why the Blues needed him in the first place. The ex-Chipstead youngster managed just the 15 appearances in his disappointing one year at Stamford Bridge, of which he started only seven. The player himself even admitted it was
"a relief" to leave the club when Aston Villa rescued him from his bench warming days in 2008, and he was always very much surplus to requirements in west London.