Centre Back: Khalid Boulahrouz
Before we talk about the Dutchman on the pitch, one thing that has always annoyed me about Boulahrouz is that he picked the number 9 as his shirt number. Am I just living in the past or should centre backs be entitled to numbers that strikers traditionally have? Anyway, Boulahrouz joined Chelsea for
£9 million from German club, Hamburg. Signed for his versatility across the back line, as Mourinho was running a daringly short squad, he showed a promising start but due to shoulder and knee injuries he fell out of contention, only making 13 league appearances for Chelsea. He was loaned out to Sevilla for the next season, then later sold to VfB Stuttgart. Boulahrouz spent a very short space time at Stamford Bridge and with recurring injuries he struggled to break through, though it would have took something special to break the formidable John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho partnership.
Centre Back: Ben Tal Haim
Tal Ben-Heim was signed in a summer when Chelsea tried to limit the spending in which they brought in a number players on free transfers. Previously a regular in the Bolton team in his three year spell, Ben Haim only made thirteen league appearances in the season he spent at Stamford Bridge. He found himself to be the fourth choice centre back behind John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho and Alex.
He was fined £80,000 by the club after criticising Avram Grant saying "If I knew Avram Grant was going to be the coach I would have signed for another club". So a pretty unhappy time for the Israeli, who was sold to Manchester City the following season for
£5 million, a nice bit of business for the blues. Tal Haim is one of the few on this list that didn't arrive for the hefty transfer fee, he just simply wasn't good enough for a team with the high standards of Chelsea.