Value for money? Just ask Claude's old pals

It has been said that he began to believe his own hype and became resentful that he did not receive the same recognition as some of his team-mates. His decision to go on strike this preseason was the same tactic he used at Celta Vigo three years ago and Valencia tried to sign him.

His refusal to train and play at Vigo eventually led to him quitting the club, and he ended up at Real after they had dispensed with Fernando Redondo.

Certainly, his stubbornness would later haunt Real but Makelele is widely loved by his team-mates, who see him as a practical joker who brought laughter to the party.

After his latest walk-out, before the Spanish Super Cup match against Real Mallorca, he was welcomed back to the squad with defiant applause and bonhomie from Raul, Guti and Zidane.

At Chelsea, his £2.8maseason wage packet makes him one of the highest paid at the club and he will be expected to earn his money by bringing the excellence to the Premiership that was his trademark in La Liga.

Makelele said on Chelsea TV: 'First of all, my job is to get into the team. Then I hope I can bring the experience I have had with Real Madrid in the Champions League to Chelsea. That will make the manager happy, it will make me happy, and that is what I am aiming for.'

'Everyone in football is talking about Chelsea at the moment and at Real Madrid they were as interested as anyone. I have come to an ambitious club and the timing is perfect.'

Ranieri will rotate his partners, though. Frank Lampard will relish the opportunity to learn from the Frenchman while Joe Cole's opportunities to start matches look to have diminished in the short-term as a result of Makelele's arrival.

No-one else will be sent on loan for the time being, however, and the PFA yesterday made their concerns on the new system public, with Chelsea having already allowed Carlton Cole, Mikael Forsell and Alexei Smertin to leave for rival Premiership clubs.

PFA deputy chief executive Mick McGuire said: 'It concerns us that clubs are beginning to give a new identity to loan arrangements. The terminology for a loan in the regulations is a temporary transfer, which suggests it is there on a very short-term basis and was originally used to help out clubs who had injury problems.

'When it became a longerterm option it was used to give players such as Liverpool's Neil Mellor the chance to gain first-team experience. Now we are seeing senior Premiership players being loaned out and that concerns us.

'Apart from losing the identity of your team we could have a situation where a senior player could score a goal or give away a goal at the end of the season which affects the team he has come from.'