Shaun Wright-Phillips
Famously let go by Nottingham Forest for being “too small”, Shaun Wright-Phillips certainly proved that size doesn’t matter after breaking through City’s Academy to make more than 150 appearances for the Blues between 1999 and 2005.
He broke City hearts by joining Chelsea in 2005 but after three years in the capital found he made a hero’s return under Mark Hughes in 2008.
SWP made a further 64 appearances for City in his second spell before the signings of Adam Johnson and David Silva saw him fall down the pecking order prompting his transfer to QPR.
Daniel Sturridge
City Academy product Daniel Sturridge won the FA Youth Cup in 2008 and made 16 appearances for the first-team before joining Chelsea on a tribunal in 2009.
Despite flashes of his prodigious talent in four years at Chelsea, Daniel was never really able to cement a place in the first-team, despite a goal-laden loan spell at Bolton in 2011.
He joined Liverpool at the start of this season where he has made a promising start, including a goalscoring return to the Etihad Stadium at the start of the month.
Scott Sinclair
Summer acquisition Scott Sinclair joined Chelsea shortly after he became Bristol Rovers’ second youngest debutant at the age of 15 years and 277 days.
The pacey winger made his debut for Chelsea as a late substitute in the 2007 League Cup semi-final against Wycombe Wanderers and scored his first goal for the club against Hull in the same competition in September that year.
He only made five appearances for Chelsea, leaving on a succession of loan deals before joining Swansea on a permanent basis in 2010.
82 appearances and 28 goals later, he joined City in last summer’s transfer window.
Terry Phelan
Manchester-born full-back Terry Phelan began his career at Leeds United but really made his name as part of Wimbledon’s ‘Crazy Gang’, ascending the league pyramid between 1987 and 1992.
City manager of the time Peter Reid had seen enough in those five years to convince him to break the British transfer record for a defender with a £2.5m swoop.
Phelan made 122 appearances in three and a half seasons for the Blues before joining Chelsea but spent two years on the fringes of the first-team at Stamford Bridge and left in 1997 for Joe Royle’s Everton.
Nicolas Anelka
Kevin Keegan splashed the cash to bring Nicolas Anelka to the City of Manchester Stadium in 2002 and the club record signing took to life in Manchester like a duck to water, scoring 37 goals in 98 appearances for the club before joining Fenerbahce in 2005.
The former French international only lasted a year in Turkey before coming back to English football with Bolton Wanderers, then Chelsea.
Anelka won the Premier League and two FA Cups in his four years at Stamford Bridge and now plays his football for Juventus in Serie A.
To read our full list of 10 Chelsea connections, buy the match day programme at Sunday’s game.
