5 players who rejected a transfer to Chelsea

#4 Hulk

Hulk had transfer offers from Chelsea and Real Madrid but chose to sign for Zenit instead.

In 2012, Hulk was a hot commodity in the transfer market. He was coming off a spectacular season with Porto and clubs around the world were lining up to secure his services. The front-runners among them were Chelsea.

The fact that Hulk had found the net 57 times in 91 games over the past two seasons made him very appealing to Chelsea - who required strikers more than anything at that point in time. Didier Drogba had just led Chelsea to Champions League glory the season before and was set to depart for China. Fernando Torres, an expensive €50 million acquisition from Liverpool the season before had not lived up to expectations, scoring 12 times in 67 appearances for the club. Moreover, Chelsea had just signed Eden Hazard and needed a top class marksman to take full advantage of the promising Belgian's craftiness.

Hulk promised to be that marksman. As fits his name, he also had physically imposing characteristics and was expected to be able to hustle within the box, create spaces and fire the artillery, as he had been doing. His bulk was also supposed to give Chelsea an aerial advantage in set pieces, something that the side would lack after Drogba's departure.

Chelsea had lined up a €38 million offer for Hulk. The Blues were ready to pay more for Hulk than they paid for Hazard during the same window. By that point, other clubs in the mix had given up the chase and all that was left was for Hulk to put pen to paper.

Hulk surprised the world by deciding to not join Chelsea in the very last minute, though. Moreover, his eventual destination, Zenit St. Petersburg in Russia, was even more perplexing. While he did perform well in the Russian league, scoring regularly and at will, he faded from the radar of top European powerhouses, as he could not inspire Zenit to make deep runs in the Champions League.

In 2014, Hulk said that there was no point in joining Chelsea or Real Madrid - another reported suitor - because he was not guaranteed playing time there. Obviously, many wonder why he left Porto in the first place considering that he had a starting spot and his team made impacts in the Champions League as well.

Money is also said to be a major motivation in Hulk's decision to sign for Zenit. Moreover, the fact that he would've been a starter at the Bridge is also brought up. Currently, Hulk plies his trade in China and one can't help but wonder how different the story could've been had he signed for Chelsea instead.