GREAT START

With a transfer fee believed to be around of £9.7 million, the Serbian defender Branislav Ivanovic signed with the English club Chelsea on 15th of January 2008.

Although surprisingly enough he did not make any appearances in that season as the coach club Avram Grant stated that he lacked fitness to actually play.

Avram Grant’s contract reached its end in 2008 and despite the success he enjoyed with Chelsea, no extension was made and he was replaced by Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Even with the introduction of a new coach Branislav Ivanovic could barely find any playing time with Chelsea besides a few appearances made as a substitute in the Premier League and League Cup matches. At one point Unibet were offering a betting market on him leaving Chelsea in the next transfer window.

It wasn’t until the arrival of the Dutch coach Guus Hiddink that things began to take a turn for Ivanovic. He was in the starting XI of the team and scored his 1st goal for Chelsea in their match against Liverpool.

Chelsea once more paved the way for a new coach this time with Carlo Ancelotti who maintained Ivanovic in his plans and into the main squad of the team. He later proved to be a versatile defender as he was forced to play into the center back position due to his team mates Alex and John Terry recovering from injuries.

Thanks to his continuous performances his goal scoring prowess was becoming more and more evident especially though set-pieces as he scores most with headers and rarely getting injured.
Now he plays a vital part in Chelsea’s defense alongside David Luiz, John Terry and Ashley Cole as the defensive backline of the English club.

He has also attracted the attention of Serie A clubs such as: Ac.Milan, Fiorentina and Juventus but there seems to be no interest for Chelsea on letting him go for any time soon.