Chelsea supporters have been fortunate enough to watch some outstanding midfielders play for them over the years, but they’ve not all been giant successes.
In Chelsea’s history, they’ve been blessed with some truly phenomenal midfielders.
The likes of Frank Lampard, N’Golo Kante and Claude Makelele immediately stand out. Incidentally, Nemanja Matic has raved about Kante this week by claiming he ran a lot less when he played alongside him.
Unfortunately, there have been plenty of midfield flops at Stamford Bridge as well, with the likes of Danny Drinkwater, Juan Sebastian Veron and Tiemoue Bakayoko.
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Steve Sidwell was hurt by Chelsea fans chanting he’s a ‘reject’
In the summer of 2007, Steve Sidwell joined Chelsea on a free transfer after leaving Reading.
The English midfielder lasted just one season with the Blues before he was sold to Aston Villa. In fairness, he was up against it when competing against the likes of Frank Lampard and Michael Essien for a starting position.
During an interview this week, Sidwell remembers how much it stung when Chelsea fans chanted ‘Chelsea reject’ towards him in 2008 when he was playing for Villa against his former club.
Sidwell said on The Dressing Room Podcast: “The one that hurt me the most, this is ridiculous, the season after I left Chelsea and I went to [Aston] Villa, we played [Chelsea] at Villa Park. All the Chelsea fans were singing ‘Chelsea reject’ to me.”
Of course, it really didn’t work out for Sidwell at Stamford Bridge. We don’t think it helped the narrative around him at the time when he was presented with Chelsea’s No 9 shirt.
The English central midfielder wasn’t quite cut out for the Blues first team, but he still enjoying a superb career before retiring. Even though he made exactly 200 Premier League appearances in total, the highlight may have been starring in a Reading side that won the Championship title with 106 points in the 2005/06 season.
| Club | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
| Reading | 185 | 30 | 13 |
| Fulham | 114 | 17 | 7 |
| Brighton | 67 | 7 | 1 |
| Aston Villa | 64 | 4 | 4 |
| Brentford | 30 | 4 | 0 |
| Chelsea | 25 | 1 | 1 |
| Stoke | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| Arsenal | 0 | 0 | 0 |
In the modern day, Sidwell claims Chelsea fans are targeting Jadon Sancho for major criticism because of his recent performances. The Blues winger is at least still in a position where he can turn his fortunes around with a strong finish to the season.
Is Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall following a similar path?
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, 26, is a talented central midfielder who joined Chelsea last summer after a standout campaign in the Championship with Leicester City. So far, he’s struggled to make too much of an impact in West London.
The Englishman has scored three goals and created two assists in 24 appearances across all competitions this season, but he’s only started twice in the Premier League so far.
Maresca got his wish of keeping Dewsbury-hall in January, even though he was linked with a transfer exit just months after joining Chelsea.
We’ll have to wait and see if anything comes around when the summer window comes around, but we’re guessing that Dewsbury-Hall could leave after just one year, following in the footsteps of Sidwell.
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