The 2008/09 season saw another supporting role for the enigmatic Ivorian, who as always provided important goals and assists for his team.

Kalou's third season at the club brought a slight reduction in appearances from the season before, partially due to his involvement in the Olympic Games, a tournament where the Ivory Coast reached the quarter-final stage.

It was the second season in succession that international commitments had taken their toll, after the month-long African Cup of Nations in January 2008, a tournament that rears its head again this coming January.

With new manager Luiz Felipe Scolari taking over in the summer of 2008, Kalou started brightly, scoring in each of the first two friendlies out in China before joining up with his young international team-mates.

Upon his return, Kalou had to settle for a place on the bench, locked in a battle with the improving Florent Malouda for a spot on the left wing.

His first major contribution of the campaign was to head home a late equaliser against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge, before adding another against Portsmouth three days later in the Carling Cup.

Substitute cameos followed before a start up at Middlesbrough, where Kalou netted the first in a 5-0 win, the third goal attributed as a David Wheater own-goal rather than credited to the Chelsea man.

Injury to Joe Cole allowed a run in the side, but Kalou was ineffective in home defeats to both Liverpool and Arsenal as results under Scolari began to suffer.

Further goals came for Kalou, with two important strikes at home to Middlesbrough to secure Scolari's last Chelsea victory, before starting roles in Guus Hiddink's first few games in charge.

It wasn't until the end of April that Kalou found the net again though, slotting home the only goal at West Ham, by which point Malouda had become the preferred choice on the left, with Anelka and Drogba hitting it off in the other two forward roles.

After West Ham, it was a month before he saw action again, and again he scored on the final day of the Premier League season at Sunderland, but this was not enough to secure a place in the line-up at Wembley for the FA Cup Final against Everton.

A year earlier, Kalou had surpassed the 100 appearances mark with a second successive season of development.

In addition, there were four weeks away in Ghana as Salomon continued his fledgling international career with the Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations. A superb solo goal against Nigeria kicked the tournament off, and he followed that up with two against Guinea in a resounding 5-0 win.

Back in England, Kalou had flourished in a left-wing role, for spells keeping Malouda out of the side, but also scored goals when asked to play in a central striking role, notably against Bolton in October, reducing the impact of injuries to Didier Drogba and Andriy Shevchenko.

Added to his 11 goals were nine assists in the Premier League, the highest number from any Chelsea player.

He signed in the summer of 2006 when an undisclosed transfer fee was paid to Dutch club Feyenoord.

He had performed in the Dutch league for three seasons. In 2003/4 he made two appearances for Feyenoord but played the bulk of the season on loan at another Rotterdam club, second division Excelsior, where he netted four goals in 11 appearances.

In the last two seasons at Feyenoord he found the net 35 times in 60 top flight starts and seven sub appearances. He has also scored four goals in 6+1 Uefa Cup games.

The 20 goals he scored in 2004/05 was the second best total in the Dutch top division that season. He was selected as the winner of the Johan Cruyff Award for Young Talent playing in Holland.

He made his Blues debut in the Community Shield against Liverpool in August and scored his first goal in a Carling Cup tie away at Blackburn in October 2006.

In total he scored nine goals in his first Chelsea season as he understudied Drogba and Shevchenko, playing a part in 58 of the 64 games, starting 25.

Now under Carlo Ancelotti he is looking to stake a claim for a more regular starting position, a tough task given the narrow formation preferred by the Italian, but with early season goals against QPR and Atletico Madrid he has done himself little harm.