John Terry recently shared his views on Tal Ben Haim’s tenure at Chelsea, suggesting that the Israeli defender was “very lucky” to secure a move to the club. Terry revealed that Ben Haim was eventually sidelined from first-team training by then-manager Avram Grant due to ongoing conflicts between the two.

Ben Haim, who played as a right-sided defender, spent only one season at Stamford Bridge. However, his time with the team was more memorable for his off-field issues than his contributions on the pitch.

His football journey began with successful stints at Maccabi Tel Aviv and Bolton Wanderers. In 2007, Jose Mourinho, Chelsea’s manager at the time, brought him to West London. Ben Haim was thrilled with the move and expressed his willingness to “play in any position” for Mourinho.

However, just three months after Ben Haim joined Chelsea, Mourinho resigned in September 2007. The managerial role was then handed over to Avram Grant, the former manager of the Israeli national team.

This transition marked the start of a challenging period for Ben Haim at Chelsea. He later admitted that he would have chosen a different club had he known Grant would become the manager.

Reflecting on those turbulent times, Terry, who was the Chelsea captain during Ben Haim’s stint, recounted how frequent and intense disagreements between Ben Haim and Grant led to fiery confrontations during training sessions.

Tal Ben Haim was brought to Chelsea by Jose Mourinho in 2007 before he dramatically quit

John Terry says the Israeli defender was ‘very lucky’ to get his move to Stamford Bridge

‘Tal was a funny guy. I think he knew he got very lucky with his move to Chelsea’, Terry said on the Obi One Podcast.

‘Me and Tal are good friends, we still speak today. He’d come in asking for the 26 shirt because he was 26 at Bolton – and we told him where to go with that one straight away.

‘Him and Avram Grant were at each other’s throats every single day. They obviously knew each other, speaking their own language and they were at each other constantly. And then Avram threw him out of training and told him ‘you can’t train with the group’.

‘He just banished him from the ground and said “you’re not allowed in when the first team are here”.

So we got everyone together and I said “listen, it’s a big year for us… everyone calm down. The boys want you involved in the group, don’t be a d******d, don’t keep arguing with the manager, if you are then you can go. But come in and train well with the group, we need you as part of the group”.

‘Avram let him back in and he trained well. But there’s just moments like that that are funny stories.’

Terry was speaking at a live audience recording of the podcast hosted by his former Chelsea team-mate John Obi Mikel, who also told how Ben Haim had a ‘massive fight’ with Andriy Shevchenko during a training session.

‘It was a five-a-side game, the five-a-side games are where it always happened,’ Mikel said.

John Obi Mikel recalled how Ben Haim and Andriy Shevchenko got into a training ground fight

‘So we’re training and playing and [Tal] kept tackling and kicking everybody and, you know, Shev never speaks. He was very quiet.

‘But Tal kept going at it, kept kicking and Shev just absolutely lost it. So after the last one, Shev just stood up and went boom! They both started punching each other and we all jumped in, it was crazy. That’s my funny moment with Tal.’

Ben Haim featured for Chelsea on just a handful of occasions after the arrival of Grant, making just 13 appearances in total for the Blues before moving to Manchester City in 2008.

He went on to feature for clubs throughout the English pyramid, such as Sunderland, Portsmouth, West Ham, Queens Park Rangers and Charlton, but struggled to recapture the form that saw Mourinho sign him.

The defender played 96 times for Israel and retired after returning to play club football in his home nation in 2021.