Claude Makalele

I was a big fan of his at Real - the man the manager said was always the first name on his teamsheet, the man the other players said was the most important in the team, but he was reportedly paid around a million - hardly poverty, but there were several players each paid many times as much. When they refused him an increase three years ago, it's no wonder he fancied a move. (And note how much the most stellar and expensive collection of players in the world has won since then.)

Three years ago Abramovich took over Chelsea. They started spending fortunes, and during this spree I was saying to lots of people, yes, terrific players bought BUT look at the teams who've dominated for years - they've each got a world class player at the back of midfield (most obviously Keane and Viera) and Chelsea still lack that. I wasn't convinced - then they signed Makalele. I remember a conversation with Tim in the pub where he was a bit peeved that a team he disliked had signed one of his favourite players.

Now I know he's not unappreciated, but nonetheless last season when Chelsea dominated England the two players contending for the different player of the year awards were Terry and Lampard. Mourinho said his pick would be Makalele (as was mine), and while most pundits and fans were saying that that was a good choice too, he wsn't a contender.

One recent point: a few teams decided lately to go man for man on Makalele - a very unusual move against a defensive midfielder, especially in a team stuffed with talent. This has looked pretty effective. You can't stop him breaking up attacks that way, but his value as being a player almost always available for a pass, and his reliability as a passer (unspectacular, rarely especially ambitious but very rarely giving it away), are extremely important to keeping possession and getting moves started and keeping them going. A pulsebeat kind of player, so I can see how disrupting him works.

And in two months we get to see him within a not terribly fancied French team, but I wouldn't want to play against a central midfield of Makalele and Viera, while stopping Zidane and Henry, so their chances can't be dismissed.

Anyway, I thought he deserved a thread of his own.