Chelsea spent heavily on recruiting the likes of Timo Werner and Kai Havertz prior to the start of the season. The duo have not enjoyed the best debut campaign in England so far, though, in their defence, they are still young players and may just need some extra time to adapt to the new country and culture.
Havertz and Werner are not the first Germans to play for the Blues.
The others are:
Antonio Rudiger
Rudiger joined the Blues from Roma in 2017. He has been a success in his time at Stamford Bridge and helped the club win a FA Cup and Europa League.
Andre Schürrle
The 2014 World Cup winner joined the Blues in 2013 from Bayer Leverkusen. He was a first-team regular in his first season at the club, helping the Blues to land the Premier League title.
However, he fell down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge the following campaign before returning to Germany with VFL Wolfsburg. Schürrle was unable to replicate the consistency which saw him become so highly rated in his early 20’s. He was last on the books of Spartak Moscow and ended up retiring from football in 2020, aged just 29.
Marko Marin
Like Schürrle, Marin was highly-rated as a youth before never quite living up to his potential. He joined the Blues in 2012 from Werder Bremen. He would remain on the books of the Blues for four years, serving loan spells in Turkey, Italy, and Spain.
The playmaker is currently a free agent. Aged 32, he was last on the books of Saudi club Al-Raed.
Michael Ballack
After success with Bayern Munch, the German midfield dynamo joined Chelsea in 2006 at the age of 30. He went on to spend four successful years with the club, helping it to one Premier League title, three FA Cups, and one League Cup.
Ballack left the Blues in the summer of 2012, returning to Germany with Bayer Leverkusen. He retired from football in 2012.
Robert Huth
Huth had a rather interesting career. Though born in East Germany, the former German international spent his entire professional career in England. The former centre-back joined the Stamford Bridge club from FC Union Berlin in 2001 before graduating to the first team in 2002.
Though mainly a squad rotation option during his time with the Blues, Huth helped the club win two Premier League titles. He left the Blues in 2006 and joined Middlesbrough before having spells with Stoke City and Leicester City.
The highlight of Huth’s career was in 2015-16 as he was a key part of the Leicester team which claimed the Premier League.
Sebastian Kneißl
Kneißl is definitely the most unknown player in this list and spent five years on the books of the Blues, though he never made a competitive league appearance for the club.
After leaving Chelsea in 2005, he had spells with lower league teams in England and Germany and a loan spell with Westerlo.
He retired from professional football in 2013, having last been on the books of German club SV Heimstetten.
