Chelsea have had some of the best midfielders in Premier League history over the years, and they could have had another one on the list.
Frank Lampard remains the gold standard for Chelsea midfielders after becoming the club’s all-time leading scorer with 211 goals. And before Lampard took center stage, Claude Makelele revolutionised the defensive midfield position with the Makelele role.
Cesc Fabregas and N’Golo Kante took the torch for Chelsea’s 2014/15 title-winning campaign. And today we get the pleasure of seeing Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo boss things in midfield.
And a Premier League winner could have been added to the list, but he chose Tottenham.
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David Bentley was in talks to join Chelsea
David Bentley made 184 Premier League appearances, scoring 17 goals and providing 29 assists. Known for his David Beckham-esque delivery and long-range goals, his standout achievement was at Blackburn Rovers, where he became the first player to score a Premier League hat-trick against Manchester United.
The one surprising fact about Bentley is he actually won a Premier League winner’s medal with Arsenal’s Invincibles squad in 2004, though his role was minimal.
He later made a £15 million move to Tottenham in 2008, but it could have been so different.
Speaking on the Clutch 9 podcast to Rio Ferdinand, David Bentley shared just how close he came to joining Chelsea.
“I met a few others, Martin O’Neill at Villa was there and Chelsea, people like that. But the project at Tottenham looking at it wanted to play for him, but then they brought in Juande Ramos. I’m looking at him, thinking he’s Wenger.
“Then you’re looking at the new stadium, which was right when we had all the plans and the new training ground and all the plans and you’re just looking at going, ‘I’ve got to be a part of that. That is going somewhere.’ Yeah, that was that’s why it was Tottenham.”
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