Chelsea banished 45-goal forward from first-team squad and he didn’t play for an entire season, club tried to ‘break him mentally’

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One thing that has been consistent about Chelsea no matter who is running the club is that standards must be met for a player or manager to remain for a prolonged period of time.

The turnover of players is large in the current regime under Todd Boehly, with talk of moving on a number of players in this transfer window just months after they signed for the Blues.

This treatment has not been restricted to just players who haven’t been able to make an impact on the club at all. Ben Chilwell was one of the best left-backs in world football a few years ago, to being left out the Premier League squad completely right now.

Malouda said Chelsea ‘tried to destroy him mentally’

This is similar to what was suffered by former Chelsea star Florent Malouda, who had previously been seen as a crucial member of a Premier League and FA Cup winning Blues side.

In 2013 though, the Frenchman was excluded from the squad and refused the ability to train with the first team under the rein of Rafa Benitez.

This led to Malouda hinting that the club were looking to make him look bad for wanting to move on and that the club were doing their best to destroy him mentally.

He said to The Mail Online (via France-Guyane) “The details I’ll explain when I’m free. But the strategy they use is to make me look like a player seeking substantial compensation. If you are excluded for one year, it is very, very long.

“You must be armed mentally. All this is done to break me mentally, but in reality, it motivates me enormously.”

Malouda scored 45 goals in all competitions for Chelsea in his six-year spell at the club and formed a devastating attack for a number of seasons alongside the likes of Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka.

What is Florent Malouda up to now?

After eventually getting his move away and featuring for the likes of Trabzonspor and Metz, Malouda retired from professional football in 2018.

It seems he has taken steps to move as far away from the game as possible. Malouda has now joined an army reserve in French Guinea.

Whenever the Frenchman is in attendance at Stamford Bridge, he is greeted with a warm reception from the Stamford Bridge faithful, and it seems the relationship between the club and the player has been restored in recent years after the turmoil that saw him leave.