John Terry says Tal Ben Haim was 'very lucky' to get his move to Chelsea - and revealed how the Israeli was exiled from first-team training by Avram Grant because they 'were at each other's throats every single day'.

The right-sided defender spent just one season at Stamford Bridge, and was best known for what he did off the pitch than what he did on it during his time with The Blues.

After a successful start to his career with Maccabi Tel Aviv and Bolton Wanderers, then-Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho brought him to west London in 2007, and a delighted Ben Haim vowed that he would 'play in any position' for his new manager.

But Mourinho dramatically resigned in September that year, just three months after Ben Haim made the switch, and the Stamford Bridge hotseat was given to former Israel boss Grant.

It marked the beginning of a disastrous spell at Chelsea for Ben Haim, who later declared that he would have signed for another club had he known Grant was going to be in charge.

Now Terry, who was Blues captain during Ben Haim's time at the Bridge, has recalled how he and Grant would be 'at each other constantly' in explosive training ground bust-ups.

'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.

'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.