Tomorrow sees Manchester City come to Stamford Bridge, with a couple of former Chelsea players hoping this time that the points will go back to Eastlands.

One of those players is of course Shaun Wright-Phillips, who’d originally come to us from City for the ridiculously over-inflated price of £21million.  And having tried, and failed, to justify his transfer fee, was finally persuaded to go ‘back home’ to City.

The former Chelsea winger says “Playing regularly at City is the key to everything.  With the players I’m playing with, and the culture of the manager, everything else takes care of itself.  People ask me if this is the best I’ve played. It could be, but I can still improve.  It’s just a matter of getting games and this is my first year back playing consistently.  I just thought I’m coming back home to City and I have to get back to where I started. That’s what I’m trying to do.  I’m happy to be back here, but I was happy at Chelsea too. Chelsea’s in the past. I’m someone who looks forward. I don’t know whether Chelsea think it was a mistake to let me go. I’m just concentrating on what I do with City.”

I’m undecided about this one to be honest because throughout his time with us, its clear Shauny underachieved. We had the odd game where he looked good but he just couldn’t string enough of those performances together to establish himself on the team sheet consistently. And yet, even though I know he never fulfilled his potential at Chelsea and for the most part, irritated the shit out of me, seeing the difference in him at City again begs the question, why?

I know Jose Mourinho put a lot of effort into encouraging Shauny but under that regime, with the focus on our defensive play, the winger was always fighting a losing battle. Avram Grant, likewise, went along with Mourinho’s defensive ethos that afforded Wright-Phillips no opportunities to express himself on the field. And obviously, with him being sold right at the start of this season, even Scolari – with his aim of introducing a more attacking style – hadn’t included the 27 year old in his plans.

So maybe he looks better at City simply because it suits him? Let’s be honest, City’s defence leaves a lot to be desired, particularly away from home where they’ve conceded 24 goals already this season. And yet, on the counter-attack, an area in which they excel, Shauny’s pace and movement is ideal.

Not that Shaun has any regrets about his time away from City though, far from it, because he says “I’ve no regrets about going to Chelsea.  It made me a better player and now I want to improve again.  Even though I didn’t play all the time, I was still learning because when you’re training with players like that, you’re learning.  I still speak to the Chelsea lads and when I go down to see some of my family, I try to see some of them. The whole experience made me appreciate life. I was given a chance, I took the chance and I learned a lot.”

So we pay out £21million, make him a better player so he can put it to good use at Eastlands? Not Chelsea’s smartest business decision really. And now he’s hoping he can use what we’ve taught him against us as he returns to Stamford Bridge, stating “I don’t think it is weird going back. I just look at it as our next game and think we need to get something out of the game.  We know how good Chelsea are. We have to give them the game of their lives and see what happens.”

Filed under: Ex Players, Rants