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#6 Adrian Mutu
Unlike sports such as cycling and athletics, football thankfully hasn't been embroiled in many controversial incidents involving drugs. However, there have been a handful of examples of drug abuse throughout the game's history, and most of them involve recreational substances rather than PED's.
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One such incident in 2005 made Romanian striker Adrian Mutu – then of Chelsea – into one of the Premier League's most controversial figures. Signed by the Blues from Italian side Parma – where he'd scored an impressive 22 goals in 36 games – Mutu was supposed to spearhead Chelsea's Premier League title challenge.
However, after netting six goals in his first season at Stamford Bridge, Mutu quickly found himself out of favour with new boss Jose Mourinho. The duo clashed badly when Mutu accused Mourinho of falsely claiming he was injured in order to prevent him from playing for Romania in a 2006 World Cup qualifier.
Worse was still to come, though. Shortly after the clash, Mutu tested positive for a banned substance – reputedly cocaine, although the Romanian denied this – and was banned from football for seven months for the infraction.
This was the last straw for Chelsea, who subsequently terminated his contract, essentially writing off a potential transfer fee for him. Months later, the Blues then looked to seek compensation from Mutu for the incident, and after a long period in various courtrooms, the Romanian was forced to pay a substantial fee to his former club.
Despite spending less than two full seasons in the Premier League, Mutu remains a highly controversial character to this day due to this incident.
#7 Jose Mourinho
One of the most successful managers of the Premier League era, Jose Mourinho has won the Premier League title on three occasions with Chelsea. He was also able to capture a number of lesser trophies both with the Blues and later at the helm of Manchester United.
However, the Portuguese boss – who is now in charge of Tottenham Hotspur – has also courted plenty of controversy during his periods in England. And perhaps no other boss in Premier League history has dominated the pages of tabloids quite like he has.
Mourinho arrived in the Premier League with Chelsea in the summer of 2004 following his Champions League win with Porto. He immediately marked himself out by calling himself 'The Special One' in his introductory press conference.
Indeed, the Portuguese had an immediate impact – leading Chelsea to back-to-back Premier League titles in his first two seasons at the club. However, despite the success, controversy was never too far away from him.
Mourinho had famed spats with fellow managers such as Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson – even labelling the former a "specialist in failure" and a "voyeur" – and was quick to hit out at all forms of authority, from the Premier League and the FA all the way up to UEFA.
Later in his career, Mourinho has become even more notorious for falling out with his own players and even the staff at his club. His much-publicised second stint at Chelsea saw him win a third Premier League title, but ended in controversy when he clashed badly with team doctor Eva Carneiro, an incident that supposedly caused results to slip.
At Manchester United, meanwhile, Mourinho had major clashes with players such as Paul Pogba and Luke Shaw, and ended up leaving Old Trafford under a black cloud. The jury is still out on his current regime at Tottenham, but one thing seems certain – more controversy is almost bound to follow the Portuguese boss at some stage.
#8 Mario Balotelli
When Italian striker Mario Balotelli joined Manchester City in the summer of 2010, fans of the Premier League were excited. The forward was renowned as one of Europe's most exciting young prospects at the time, and despite some disciplinary problems at Inter Milan, hopes were high for him.
However, to say that Balotelli's wild reputation on and off the pitch overshadowed his performances for City would be an understatement. Seemingly from moment one, the Italian was involved in a series of controversial and downright bizarre incidents that turned him into a cult figure amongst Premier League fans.
Where do you start? There was the incident that saw him found with £5000 cash in his pocket after crashing his car, and when asked to explain why he had such an amount, he reportedly replied "because I am rich".
Another incident supposedly saw him throw darts at a youth team player, while another saw him reportedly set off fireworks inside his house, causing a fire.
Somehow, Balotelli seemed unfazed by all the controversy – famously unveiling a t-shirt that read "Why always me?" following a goal against Manchester United. Unfortunately though, the Italian's performances on the pitch eventually began to suffer, and the disciplinary issues that'd haunted him at Inter began to shine through.
The 2011-12 season saw him getting sent off on four occasions in Premier League action, and an incident that saw him kick Tottenham's Scott Parker also saw him charged by the FA with violent conduct. By the end of 2012-13, City had seen enough and sold him to AC Milan. And while he returned to the Premier League in 2014-15 with Liverpool, he failed to make an impact and quickly headed back to Italy.
Even then though, controversy was never far away from Balotelli. During his stint at Liverpool – which only lasted a year – he managed to earn a suspension and fine from the FA following a social media post that contained anti-Semitic and racist references.
