Claude Makelele: The man with a position named after him!

Claude Makelele. The man that the football world have named a position after due to effect that he had in the role of a defensive midfielder.

Makelele signed for Chelsea pre Abramovich in the summer of 2003 for £16.8 million from Spanish giants Real Madrid.

Before he joined the joined The Blues Makelele had won the French Ligue 1 in 1995 with Nantes before a transfer to Real Madrid made him a household name.

During his time in Madrid he won the La Liga and Supercopa in 2001and 2003, the Champions League in 2002 and the Super Cup plus the Intercontinental Cup in the same year leading on from the Champions League triumph.

Amazingly Makelele never won a major international honour with France missing out on the World Cup squad in 1998 and the Euro 2000 squad. He made his international tournament debut in 2002 in Korea/Japan and was a World Cup runner up in 2006 when France lost to Italy.

Makelele played a total of 144 games for the blues scoring two goals. These goals are special to Chelsea fans as he allowed to take the penalty in the Charlton game in the 2004/5 season when the Premier League trophy was being presented to the blues after the game. The second goal was an 18 yard curling volley in the 2006/7 season gained London neighbours Tottenham Hotspurs.

When Frank Lampard took over the role of Manager of Chelsea he brought Makelele back to the club as youth coach and technical mentor after Makelele had gained managerial experience as Paris Saint Germain Assistant Manager between 2011-2013, Bastia Manager in 2014, Swansea Assistant Manager in 2017 and Eupen Manager between 2017-2019 in Belgium.