Top Five: Premier League’s Greatest Portuguese

3) Paulo Ferreira

In 2004, Champions League winning manager Jose Mourinho joined Chelsea and took a few of his former players with him to West London. One of those that made the switch, was a Portuguese full back named Paulo Ferreira. He made the transfer to Chelsea for a fee of £13.2 million.

Although initially signed to play a key role in the right side of defence, the former Porto man would only be a mainstay in his first season in 2004/2005. In fact, across his nine-year period in the Premier League, he only made 141 appearances; making over 20 appearances in only four of those nine seasons.

Whereas those stats do not do the full back justice, it must be said that although he was not the most gifted player, he was an incredibly consistent player who could always be trusted to perform at a high level. Jose Mourinho commented on the Portuguese that “he was a player who will never be man of the match but would always score 7/10 for his individual display”. (Source: FourFourTwo)

Across nine seasons, he only made 214 competitive appearances in a Chelsea shirt. But he also won everything that was there to be won. In total, he won twelve trophies during his stay in West London, including three Premier League titles, four FA Cup’s and the Champions League.

Despite not being one of the most influential players in the Premier League, Paulo Ferreira’s contribution cannot be underestimated. Despite playing a bit-part for Chelsea across nine seasons, throughout his time in the Premier League he was an incredibly reliable player who always performed to a high standard whenever he was called upon.