5 Worst Signings Ever – Players Chelsea FC Shouldn’t Have Signed

With the spending power of Chelsea, there have been a lot of players who have come and gone. Some turn out to be successes, some turn out to be absolute flops. Much light is given to those who turned out good, here we’ll check on those who just weren’t built for life in West London.

Players like Alvaro Morata and Papy Djilobodji will not be included in this list simply because Chelsea got a decent enough return on their transfer, i.e, the club gained something out of the entire deal.

#5: Asier Del Horno

Before the arrival of Ashley Cole in 2006, the left-back spot wasn’t really nailed down by any single player. In an attempt to bolster the 2004-05 title-winning squad, Mourinho brought in Spanish left-back Asier Del Horno from Atletico Bilbao for a fee in the region of 8 million euros.

His only season in England saw him make 34 appearances in all and scoring 1 goal against Tottenham. The season was turning out just fine for him until the Round-of-16 clash against Barcelona. He was matched up against Lionel Messi who preferred the right-wing spot.

Del Horno received a straight red and Chelsea lost the tie 3-2 on aggregate. Mourinho was very angry with the Spain international. He was subsequently dropped from the Chelsea side and Mourinho started actively looking for a long term left-back solution. He did, however, found Ashley Cole in the following summer. Del Horno returned to Spain for a deal worth half of what he came for.

#4: Khalid Boulahrouz

Another Mourinho buy, Khalid Boulahrouz was bought in the summer of 2006. He moved from German side Hamburger SV for a fee of 13 million pounds. Mourinho hailed his versatility as he thought the dutchman would give him cover across all of the back-line.

Boulahrouz started strong, appearing in high-profile matches against Liverpool and Barcelona.

The Dutchman was given the number 9 shirt, unconventional for a defender, but Boulahrouz took it.

Boulahrouz was out for a lengthy period following a knee injury and never really regained top form again. He was eventually dropped from the Chelsea side as Mourinho preferred to play Michael Essien at Centre-back even when Carvalho was out injured.

He was loaned out for the next season to Sevilla. He was deemed surplus to requirements in Spain where he played just 6 games. He came back to West London only to be shipped out permanently to Stuttgart for a fee around 5 million pounds, a third of the price he had come in for.

#3: Andriy Shevchenko

Another player who came in during the first Mourinho spell, Andriy Schevchenko came in from AC Milan with a bucketload of expectations and reputation.

Twice finishing in the top 3 of the Ballon D’Or during his time with Milan, the Ukrainian had built up quite a name for himself. Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was a long time admirer of the striker and brought him in eventually in summer 2006, breaking the English transfer record. Schevchenko came in for 44 million Euros and eventually left for peanuts 3 years later.

The Ukrainian found it very difficult to adapt to the English game and scored a mere 14 goals in 51 appearances. His tally further dropped in his second season, as he scored 9 goals in 25 appearances. He was loaned back to Milan, in a desperate attempt to get the striker back in form, but it seemed that the clinical finisher was no more the same. After a disappointing season in Italy, he returned to Chelsea and was sold to Dynamo Kyiv.

#2: Robert Fleck

Despite the fans still singing his song, Robert Fleck isn’t talked a lot about at Stamford Bridge.

In his 5 years at Norwich from 1987-1992, Fleck scored 66 goals in 181 appearances and attained legendary status at the club.

Chelsea put in a bid for Fleck before the beginning of the inaugural Premier League season. His bid was blocked by Norwich but Fleck forced his move through, threatening to go on a strike if he wasn’t allowed to switch clubs.

He subsequently moved to Chelsea for a then club-record fee of 2.1 million pounds, a record sale for Norwich as well.

His legendary status at the club soon tarnished. His time at Chelsea was, however, very disappointing. He managed to score just 4 goals in 48 appearances for the club. He spent the next 2 years out on loan, at Bolton and Bristol respectively until he moved back to Norwich for a quarter of his transfer fees. This pre-Abramovich blunder in the transfer market ranks second in our list of worst-ever Chelsea transfers.

#1: Tiemoue Bakayoko

Bakayoko moved to Chelsea in the summer of 2017 after Chelsea had just won the title. The French defensive midfielder moved from Monaco for a fee of 40 million pounds after a brilliant set of performances during Monaco’s dream run in the Champions League.

This move sparked a series of arguments from manager Conte which spewed hatred towards the board. Conte wished to keep Bakayoko to learn from Matic for a year or two, but Matic was sold instantly to Manchester United. Bakayoko failed to adapt in England but Conte had no back-up.

He continued to play Bakayoko as he had no other choice, desperately hoping for the Frenchman to finally come good, but, to no avail.

In arguably his worst performance for Chelsea, he was sent off after 30 minutes against Watford and the team looked significantly better with 10 men. His performance on the final day against Newcastle was also horrendous. He has since been on loan, spending the 18-19 season at Milan and the 19-20 season back at Monaco. Chelsea are hoping to cut their losses by selling Bakayoko but there are no takers for the Frenchman once described by Didier Deschamps as “the complete midfielder”.