One of our greatest ever players, if not THE greatest. The modern era’s only twenty goal a season midfielder, and he scored at least 10 PL goals per season for 10 consecutive seasons. Incredible statistics, but that doesn’t cover the half of it. His overall play, contribution and professionalism were second to none, and when he was being generally abused and mocked during his prime at Chelsea by opposition supporters, I always thought that it would only be after he retired that people would look back at his career, look at the goals and the medals, and give him the recognition he so thoroughly deserves as one of the the games greatest players. In terms of natural ability and pace, he was not as blessed as those he was often compared to, but his hard work and professionalism meant that his achievements matched and exceeded virtually all of them, and for me, that makes those achievements all the more impressive. Hopefully, he will return to the Bridge in some capacity.