#7. Michael Essien; €38m
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After winning the title with a record 95 points in 2005, Jose Mourinho seemed determined to bolster his midfield in pre-season. Michael Essien was bought from Lyon for €38 million which was the club-record fee at that time.
Essien’s signature, however, did not come without its share of the drama. Chelsea were chasing the Ghanaian midfielder for quite some time and had a number of bids rejected by Lyon. Essien had helped Lyon win back-to-back league titles in France in the previous two years. However, people felt that his price was a little too high to which Mourinho had replied: "Big teams only want big players, big players are in big clubs, big clubs want to keep their big players. The player is here and we think we have a really strong squad with a lot of space for improvement because everyone is very young."
The Ghanaian became an instant hit at Stamford Bridge. Partnering with Claude Makelele and Frank Lampard in midfield, he ran riot for the Londoners. Possessing immense strength and stamina, the box-to-box midfielder was a perfect fit to support both attack and defence at Chelsea. ‘The Bison’, as he was nicknamed, went on to win two domestic league titles with the Blues along with four FA Cups and a Champions League.
After departing Chelsea, he joined AC Milan in 2014 and now plies his trade for Greek side Panathinaikos.
