Chelsea signed Tal Ben Haim from Bolton in 2007 and John Terry claimed he was lucky to land such a move before asking the Blues skipper if he could have his shirt number
John Terry didn't waste anytime in rejecting an approach for his No 26 shirt
John Terry didn't waste anytime in rejecting an approach for his No 26 shirt
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Former Chelsea defender Tal Ben Haim was "very lucky with his move" according to former skipper John Terry - who told the new recruit that he couldn't go near his famed No 26 shirt.
The Israeli international had impressed with Bolton and Jose Mourinho opted to sign him in 2007, just weeks before he was axed at Stamford Bridge. It was a huge step up for Ben Haim, who made an audacious request to Terry about taking on his shirt number.
Terry had donned that number throughout his time at the Blues and was the club captain - who happily told Ben Haim he had to pick another number. He would only last a single year in west London before he was sold to Manchester City.
Within weeks of his move Ben Haim was playing under Mourinho's replacement, Avram Grant, a fellow Israeli, and the pair frequently clashed in training.
Terry said on the Obi One Podcast: "Tal was a funny guy. I think he knew he got very lucky with his move to Chelsea. Me and Tal are good friends, we still speak today. He'd come in asking for the 26 shirt because he was 26 at Bolton - and we told him where to go with that one straight away.
"Him and Avram Grant were at each other's throats every single day. They obviously knew each other, speaking their own language and they were at each other constantly. And then Avram threw him out of training and told him 'you can't train with the group'. He just banished him from the ground and said 'you're not allowed in when the first team are here'."
Ben Haim would ultimately make just 13 appearances in total for the Blues. He went on to play for a number of clubs in England including Sunderland, Portsmouth, West Ham, Queens Park Rangers and Charlton, but struggled to recapture the form that saw Mourinho sign him.
Tal Ben Haim went from Bolton to Chelsea - with John Terry claiming he was lucky to land such a move
Tal Ben Haim went from Bolton to Chelsea - with John Terry claiming he was lucky to land such a move
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The defender, even in his brief Chelsea stint, managed to rub several people up the wrong way with John Obi Mikel detailing a training session that saw Ben Haim come to blows with Andriy Shevchenko.
He recalled: "It was a five-a-side game, the five-a-side games are where it always happened. So we're training and playing and [Tal] kept tackling and kicking everybody and, you know, Shev never speaks. He was very quiet.
"But Tal kept going at it, kept kicking and Shev just absolutely lost it. So after the last one, Shev just stood up and went boom! They both started punching each other and we all jumped in, it was crazy. That's my funny moment with Tal."
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