Chelsea’s 5 Most Expensive Signings, Their Stats and Ratings

Chelsea has always been known as a club who are not afraid to spend big and were the first club to “buy success” when Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003. However, post the 11-12 Champions League success, Chelsea hasn’t spent big and the owner has shown little interest in getting Chelsea back to those heights.

The evaluation of a player and transfer fees have skyrocketed since Neymar’s transfer to PSG. Gone are the days where you could sign a multiple Champions League winner in his prime for just 21 million Euros (ref. Pedro). The involvement of FFP and the high transfer fees of a player means clubs cannot have transfer windows where they could sign multiple players to fill key spots in their squad. Clubs now have to plan and replace outgoing key players in successive transfer windows. We’ll see who has been Chelsea’s top 5 most expensive signings and how have they fared in the prestigious Blue shirt.

Top 5 Expensive Signings at Chelsea FC

#5: Jorginho  (57 million Euros)

Jorginho moved to Chelsea from Napoli along with his manager Maurizio Sarri, who were both announced on the same day for a fee of 55 million Euros. The Brazil-born Italian was crucial to the play Sarri liked to operate his team. Jorginho played in the center of a 3 man midfield, being the deepest of them all. Jorginho is slender in size which saw him struggle against the more physical players of the Premier League.

The Chelsea fans were not quite sold on the deep-lying playmaker, more primarily as Chelsea were leaking in goals consistently and the fans wanted the World Cup winner Kante to sweep up the opposition’s attacks. Sarri stuck with Jorginho in that role and tempers grew around Stamford Bridge as fans recognized Jorginho as Sarri’s son.

Post Sarri’s departure at the end of the 18-19 season, Jorginho became a key figure in Lampard’s system as well. His ability to read the game and conduct the players around him was a quality that Lampard liked. The manager often spoke admirably of Jorginho, and given his influence on the Chelsea faithful, he turned people’s perspective of the Italian. Jorginho’s game also improved under Lampard as his long balls were often well-timed. His assist for Tammy Abraham’s opener against Watford remains one of the best assists of the season. He has also risen in the role of Chelsea’s number 1 penalty taker, scoring all 7 of his penalties this season.

Stats As on April 2020:

Rating: 4/5

#4: Fernando Torres (58.5 million Euros)

Torres moved to Chelsea on deadline day in the winter transfer window of the 2010-11 season after he handed in an official transfer request. He moved to Chelsea in an initial fee of 50 million Euros (rising to 58 million Euros) which saw him break the British transfer record and made him the 6th most expensive footballer in the world. The Spaniard’s time at Chelsea is often termed as a failure but he was one of the most underrated players at Chelsea. His failures were often put under the microscope because of his transfer fees, but he had a very successful time in West London. He spent 3 and a half-season in London where he won the FA Cup, the Champions League and the Europa League. Along with fellow Spaniard Juan Mata, he became the only player in the world to be the defending World Champions, Euro Champion, Champions League winner, and the Europa League winner all at the same time.

Even though he had tough spells scoring, he always gave his 100% for the club and Chelsea fans always loved him for that. His 172 appearances for the club saw him scoring 45 goals in all.

He won the corner in the Champions League final from which Didier Drogba scored the equalizer. He also scored 9 goals en-route to Chelsea’s Europa League success in the 12-13 seasons, scoring the first goal in the final. He is also the first and only player to score in 7 different competitions in one season when he scored in the Champions League, Europa League, Premier League, FA Cup, Confederations Cup, League Cup and the Community Shield.

Rating: 3.5/5

Must Read – Was Spanish striker Fernando Torres a success at Chelsea Football club?

#3: Christian Pulisic (64 million Euros)

Chelsea confirmed the signing of American international Christian Pulisic in the winter of 2019 for 60 million euros, and immediately loaned him back to Borrusia Dortmund for him to complete the season there. Given his reputation and the international appeal that he brings to the club, the money spent on him could easily be gained back.

Pulisic made a positive impact in the pre-season itself when he returned early from his scheduled break in the summers. Pulisic started well at Chelsea, putting in decent performances in the first couple of weeks. He was dropped from the squad in the following weeks without an explanation from the boss and it looked like Lampard needed Pulisic to work harder on his abilities. Pulisic put in a few good performances after coming on, most notably providing the assist for Michy Batshuayi in the 1-0 win over Ajax. Lampard gave him his chance from the start against Burnley and Pulisic scored a hat-trick. It was exactly what Lampard wanted out of him, and things started to look up again. Pulisic became Chelsea’s creator-in-chief as he weaved in and out of defenses with ease.

An abductor injury against Brighton on New Year’s day meant Pulisic was out for January and February. Pulisic is still 21 and can form one of Europe’s most devastating wing partnerships in years to come with Hudson Odoi flanking the Chelsea attack on the other side.

Stats as on April 2020:

Rating: 3.5/5

Must Read – 12 Christian Pulisic Facts You Should Know

#2: Alvaro Morata (66 million Euros)

Alvaro Morata came to Chelsea in 2017 in a transfer saga that involved both Romelu Lukaku and Manchester United. Chelsea was in desperate need of a striker after Antonio Conte texted Diego Costa that he could leave. Romelu Lukaku was reportedly Chelsea’s first choice, and Morata was believed to be United’s preference. However, both players moved to places where the other was expected to arrive. Morata hit the ground running instantly at Chelsea and many believed that he could be the long term solution that Chelsea needed. He formed an interesting partnership with fellow countryman Cesar Azpilicueta, who used to provide him with an early cross from the right flank quite frequently.

Things were looking bright for him until November where his form dipped significantly. Sources close to Morata mentioned that he was going through a lot of mental issues regarding this. Morata was seen throwing a lot of tantrums and often blamed his teammates for mistakes of his own, which also meant that his teammates lost confidence in his abilities.

Morata scored 15 goals across all competitions in his first season in England, a total which would have been considered fine had it not been for his mentality issues and the fact that he scored just 3 of them in the final 5 months of the season.

Morata spent the next 6 months under new manager Maurizio Sarri who regularly preferred to play Giroud over Morata. Following the arrival of Higuain in winter, he left on loan to Atletico who signed a deal in which they were obligated to buy the striker. This deal will mean that Chelsea recoup all that they had spent on Morata and get some extra money as well.

Rating: 1.5/5

#1: Kepa Arrizabalaga (80 million Euros)

The 25-year-old Spaniard came in from Athletico Bilbao after Chelsea activated his release clause of 80 million Euros. This made the Basque keeper the most expensive one in the world. The Spaniard came in as an emergency buy after Thibaut Courtois refused to turn up for practice post the World Cup and practically forced a move to Real Madrid.

The Spanish giants, Real Madrid were pursuing Kepa themselves in the previous winter, scouting him quite heavily. This interest made Atletico give Kepa a new contract which included the hefty release clause.

The Spanish number 1 has so far divided opinions within the Chelsea ranks. His first season in England was pretty solid but things turned rather sour in the second when his performance level significantly dropped which led to Lampard dropping him for the 38-year-old second choice keeper, Willy Cabellero.

Kepa’s most controversial moment came in the 2019 Carabao Cup final against Manchester City when he refused to come off despite his number being displayed on the substitution board. Sarri wanted Kepa to come off as the keeper was struggling with a cramp.

Must Read – 3 Best Goal Keepers Ever at Chelsea

Cabellero, who is widely regarded as a penalty expert, probably would have been better in that situation as Kepa failed to save a weak effort from Aguero. Kepa however, was the hero in the semi-finals of the Europa League when his penalty heroics led Chelsea to the finals and then eventually to the Cup.

Stats as on April 2020:

Rating: 2.5/5

Summing it up, have a quick glance at Chelsea’s most-expensive signings:

Also Read – Chelsea’s 5 Most Underrated Players Of All Time