We still wait for Timo Werner and Kai Havertz to show their pre-Chelsea form. Here’s a team made up from players who, for one reason or another, didn’t replicate their form for previous clubs at Chelsea. Those who went on to make their name after they left the club aren’t eligible, so no Nathan Ake, Kevin De Bruyne or Mo Salah (that’s an XI for another day).
Goalkeeper: Kepa
It’s fair to say things haven’t gone too well for the world’s most expensive goalkeeper since his eye-watering, big-money move to the Premier League in 2018. Mistakes aplenty and a refusal to come off the pitch in the League Cup final have left him without much support amongst the Stamford Bridge faithful. Maybe he’ll find a new lease of life under Thomas Tuchel, or maybe he’ll return to Spain, gain some confidence and try to forget he ever set foot in England. If you fancy a goalkeeper challenge, try naming the former Chelsea ‘keeper who was a Premier League winner but made just a few appearances for the club in the early noughties before he was sacked.
Centre-back: Paul Parker
At the start of the inaugural Premier League season, Chelsea signed veteran defender Mal Donaghy from Manchester United and the versatile Northern Irishman proved a useful addition to the side over the next couple of seasons. At the same time, England international Paul Parker was busy picking up two league titles with the Red Devils before injury and the emergence of local lad Gary Neville made him surplus to requirements at Old Trafford. Parker ended up joining Chelsea in 1997, at a younger age than Donaghy five years earlier, but he couldn’t emulate his former team-mate at Stamford Bridge and ended up in non-league football shortly after.
Centre-back: Khalid Boulahrouz
Chelsea’s history of problematic number 9s ever since Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink left Stamford Bridge over 15 years ago has been well documented but the strangest addition to the number 9club (alongside Steve Sidwell) is Hasselbaink’s fellow Dutch international Khalid Boulahrouz. After an impressive spell at Hamburg, Jose Mourinho added Boulahrouz to his title-winning squad in the hope he would be able to fill in on the flanks and in the centre of defence during the 2005/06 campaign. However, he lasted just one season at the club before going out on loan and then returning to the Bundesliga with Stuttgart.
Centre-back: Winston Bogarde
A proud member of the Premier League Hall of Shame, Winston Bogarde is one of the worst buys in Chelsea’s history and he couldn’t care less. A former Ajax, AC Milan and Barcelona defender who had won domestic titles and the Champions League seemed like a positive purchase for a club looking to make its mark at home and abroad. However, it became clear Bogarde wasn’t going to improve a back line containing Marcel Desailly, Celestine Babayaro, Graeme Le Saux and the emerging talent of future captain John Terry. The Dutchman wasn’t interested in first-team football as long as he continued to pick up his unfathomably large wage and remained content to sit on the sidelines for four years rather than move on.
Winston Bogarde …unplayable at times …..
— ChelseaDagger (@MrChelseaDagger) February 2, 2021
Right wing: Brian Laudrup
A legend north of the border after starring in the successful Rangers side of the nineties, Brian Laudrup moved to Chelsea in the summer of 1998. The London club overcame reported interest from Manchester United and Ajax to sign the Danish hero and hoped his addition to an already cosmopolitan squad would help them to a maiden Premier League title. Laudrup quickly decided he’d made the wrong decision and told Chelsea’s managing director Colin Hutchinson he wanted to be released from his contract. He departed for Copenhagen after just 11 games for the club meaning the Premier League never got to see how a potentially perfect Zola/Laudrup partnership would have developed.
Central midfield: Tiemoue Bakayoko
Part of the successful Monaco side that won the French title in 2017, Bakayoko was one of many players from the club who went on to make big money moves. PSG got Mbappe, Liverpool got Fabinho, Man City got Bernardo Silva…Chelsea ended up with Bakayoko. The Frenchman only spent one season in the first team at Stamford Bridge and has been out on loan ever since. Frank Lampard decided he wasn’t fit for purpose but perhaps he’ll get another chance under Tuchel, something Danny Drinkwater is unlikely to receive. The former England international instantly looked out of place at Chelsea, despite winning the league with Leicester City and is now on loan at Kasimpasa, as opposed to kicking children in Under-23 games.
You want to know what a massive waste of money looks like?
Chelsea spent £244m in the 2017/18 season. The players they signed?
Antonio Rüdiger, Davide Zappacosta, Danny Drinkwater, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Álvaro Mórata, Emerson, Olivier Giroud and Ross Barkley.
You may laugh.
— Ｂｒｉａｎ (@BrianGDK_) February 6, 2021
Central midfield: Juan Sebastian Veron
Claudio Ranieri must’ve been listening intently to Alex Ferguson when the Scot described Manchester United misfit Veron as a “f***ing great player”, with Chelsea signing the Argentine midfielder despite his struggles with the Red Devils in the early noughties. Veron barely played during the 2003/04 season and was soon on his way out of the club after Jose Mourinho arrived at Stamford Bridge. A loan move to Inter Milan saw him return to the country where he made his name and left fans in England disappointed that they never saw ‘La Brujita’ at the top of his game.
Left wing: Adrian Mutu
Probably best to stay away from drugs if you want a successful Premier League career.
Striker: Andriy Shevchenko
Adding a Ballon d’Or winner and proven goalscorer to your ranks seems like a no-brainer and Chelsea signing Andriy Shevchenko from AC Milan in 2006 initially appeared to be a statement of intent from a club looking to make its mark in the Champions League after retaining the Premier League title. Unfortunately the Ukrainian’s lack of goals in England fuelled speculation that Shevchenko was a vanity signing, desired by Roman Abramovich but not by Jose Mourinho. Rumours of the Portuguese manager wanting to drop Shevchenko as part of a power struggle at the club surfaced and Mourinho was gone early in the 2007/08 campaign. Shevchenko returned to AC Milan on loan a year later and left for good in 2009.
Striker: Fernando Torres
Twenty Premier League goals from a £50m striker wasn’t the return Chelsea fans would’ve hoped for when Fernando Torres signed for the club ten years ago, but at least it was a lot more than Andy Carroll managed as his replacement at Liverpool. Of course, it wasn’t all bad; any spell that sees a player leave with a Champions League title to his name, as well as lifting the FA Cup and Europa League, must go down as a success of sorts and his famous goal against Barcelona even let us hear noises Gary Neville usually reserves for the bedroom. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t the Liverpool Torres who struck fear into defences around the country.
Striker: Chris Sutton
A few possibilities for the final striker position in this team include Chris Sutton, Mateja Kezman, Radamel Falcao, George Weah and Pierluigi Casiraghi. Lazio legend Casiraghi suffered a career-ending injury shortly after he arrived in England, whilst Falcao and Weah were only on loan at the club, with Weah even managing to lift the FA Cup during his short stint in London. Kezman and Sutton both failed to live up to expectations but Sutton remains the bigger disappointment out of the two given his large transfer fee and previous success at Norwich City and Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League. Sutton had one of the shortest England careers in history after a brief showing for the Three Lions in 1997 and his stay at Stamford Bridge didn’t last long either. He was allowed to leave for Celtic after just one season and one goal in the league.
James Wiles – whose Instagram has a whole load more XIs
The post Premier League XI: Chelsea signings who flopped appeared first on Football 365.