Steady progress was the theme of Branislav Ivanovic's first full season as a Chelsea player.

A debut came in the Carling Cup away at Portsmouth in late September, relieving José Bosingwa of right-back duties for the evening, before a lengthier spell in the heart of defence alongside John Terry after injury to Ricardo Carvalho and Alex.

Now settled in London and his English steadily improving, Branislav began to show his true capabilities, while also earning cult status among Chelsea fans for his Champions League double at Anfield in April.

Deployed at centre-half, the Serb went up for two corners and was almost ignored as the threat of Terry and Didier Drogba was deemed more dangerous by Liverpool, allowing him to ghost in and crash home two headers, all but booking our place in the semi-finals.

He kept his place for a run of games afterwards, marking Thierry Henry in the Camp Nou, and while at first struggling with the Frenchman's raw pace, he adapted and made a number of important blocks, interceptions and clearances.

In total he played 26 times last season, 16 times in the league with 11 starts, before an impressive summer with Serbia in the World Cup qualifiers.

Under Carlo Ancelotti, the versatile defender began as arguably first choice right-back after starting the Community Shield at Wembley, but by the time the Premier League had begun, Bosingwa had reclaimed the spot.

Signed from Lokomotiv Moscow on a three-and-a-half year contract, Branislav became then manager Avram Grant's second signing in the January 2008 transfer window, following on from the arrival of Nicolas Anelka.

Having begun his career in his native Serbia at local club Sremska Mitrovica, he soon moved to the Serbian capital Belgrade to play for OFK Beograd where he remained for three seasons, joining Lokomotiv in the summer of 2006. He appeared for the Russian side in the Uefa Cup.

A star of Serbia's Under 21s in both the 2006 and 2007 European Championships, Branislav was voted into the Uefa Team of the Tournament for the more recent event, and has successfully graduated into a regular for the full national side.

He made his Serbia and Montenegro debut in June 2006, and is now a regular in the Serbian defence alongside Manchester United's Nemanja Vidic.

He has now been joined in west London by fellow Serbian international Nemanja Matic, as well as fellow Russian speakers Andriy Shevchenko (who had initially helped him settle back in early 2008) and Yuri Zhirkov.