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Since Roman Abramovich took over Chelsea in 2003, the Blues have become a powerhouse not just in England but also in Europe. The club has won five Premier League titles and two Champions League trophies along with numerous domestic cups under his ownership.
The Russian has pumped a lot of money into transfers and has brought several big stars to Stamford Bridge. The likes of Didier Drogba, N'Golo Kante and Eden Hazard all arrived for hefty sums but made their transfer sums look like a drop in the ocean with their performances.
Chelsea have also overpaid for several players in the past
While the transfer sums for the aforementioned players seem pretty low compared to their performances, the same cannot be said about the other big-money signings at Chelsea. These players arrived at the club for huge sums, but their performances did not justify their transfer fees with many people feeling that the Blues overpaid for them.
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Here, we take a look at five such players for whom Chelsea ended up overpaying in the transfer market:
#5 Tiemoue Bakayoko - £36 million
Tiemoue Bakayoko was a key part of the famous AS Monaco side that won the Ligue 1 title in 2016-17. However, signing him for a whopping £36 million proved to be a huge mistake by Chelsea.
The midfielder arrived in London with huge expectations and was seen as the perfect replacement for Manchester United-bound Nemanja Matic.
He started well for the Blues, but as the season progressed his performances started to dwindle. He looked decent in patches, but never really fulfilled his potential or justified his price-tag at Chelsea.
Bakayoko did manage to make 24 Premier League starts in 2017-18, but it was clear after Maurizio Sarri's arrival that he did not fit in. As such, he was sent out on loan to AC Milan to accommodate new signing Jorginho in midfield.
The Frenchman was later sent out on loan back to Monaco, then Napoli and is now back at AC Milan again but is surprisingly still a Chelsea player.
#4 Alvaro Morata - £59 million
Alvaro Morata arrived at Chelsea for a then club-record fee of nearly £60 million in 2017. It definitely looked a tad punchy for an individual who, while talented, wasn't deemed good enough to be a regular starter for Real Madrid. And Morata certainly proved that he wasn't worth that much with his poor performances on the field.
Morata started brilliantly for the Blues with seven goals in his opening eight games under Antonio Conte, including a hat-trick against Stoke. But then it all began to slowly unravel and collapse for the Spaniard.
Unable to settle in London, he infamously said he found the city "stressful" and couldn't see himself living in the capital for long. The excitement around him slowly began to fade and his performances also began to suffer. This forced Chelsea to bring in Olivier Giroud in the January transfer window of 2018.
Morata scored just 15 goals and assisted six in 30 starts across all competitions in his debut season. His poor finishing and lack of confidence in front of goal continued in the second season as he scored just five goals before being sent on loan to Atletico Madrid in January 2019. The move was made permanent in the summer of 2020 with Chelsea recouping around £32 million for the forward.
#3 Danny Drinkwater - £34 million
One of the most bizarre Chelsea transfers was the signing of Danny Drinkwater from Leicester City for a pretty hefty £34 million in 2017. The move surprised everyone considering that Drinkwater wasn't really good enough to don the Blue jersey.
He had played a vital role in Leicester City's title win, but his performances the following season were simply not good enough to warrant a move to Chelsea.
With just 23 appearances for Chelsea during the 2017-18 season, Drinkwater never really broke into the team. He has not played a single competitive match for the Blues since the 2018 Community Shield.
Drinkwater has been on loan to both Burnley and Aston Villa since then, but couldn't amass more than 500 minutes for both combined. His off-field problems at both the clubs got more attention than his on-field performances.
The 31-year-old then moved on loan to Kasimpasa in Turkey before joining Reading this summer in another temporary deal.
#2 Michy Batshuayi - £35 million
Only if Michy Batshuayi's football game was as strong as his Instagram one. The Belgian is another big-money striker who failed at Chelsea.
Batshuayi arrived at Chelsea after an impressive season with Marseille, where he registered 23 goals and 10 assists for the Ligue 1 side. Plenty of Chelsea fans hoped the forward would be the next clinical number nine to lead the Blues upfront.
But apart from scoring the title-winning goal in 2016-17, the 28-year-old has failed to make any notable contributions for the Blues. He has managed to score just 25 goals in 77 appearances across all competitions for the Blues with only eight of those coming in the Premier League.
He was later sent on loan to Borussia Dortmund, Valencia and Crystal Palace before staying with the Blues during the 2019-20 season under Frank Lampard. Batshuayi returned on loan to the Eagles last season before being sent to Besiktas for the 2021-22 season on a similar deal.
#1 Kepa Arrizabalaga - £72 million
Spending a world-record fee on a goalkeeper was always going to bring a lot of pressure and expectations and that is exactly what hurt Kepa Arrizabalaga.
With Thibaut Courtois departing abruptly for Real Madrid, the Blues hoped they could bring in a consistent and capable replacement between the sticks. As such, they signed the former Athletic Bilbao keeper for a then club-record £72 million in 2018. However, Kepa was anything but that.
Under Maurizio Sarri, Kepa was average at best and while he looked promising, he certainly wasn't world-class. In the 2019-20 season, it was a completely different story.
Kepa had the lowest save percentage of any goalkeeper in the Premier League, conceding 47 league goals, while making just 1.7 saves per 90 minutes. He made several errors during that time, which forced Frank Lampard to use Willy Caballero during the latter stages of the season.
The 27-year-old's performances forced Chelsea to bring in Edouard Mendy last summer, with the Senegalese now firmly establishing himself as the No 1 for the Blues.
Kepa's performances have seen drastic improvement since Thomas Tuchel's appointment. He has managed to keep six clean sheets in 10 appearances under the German manager and also won penalty shootouts for Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup and League Cup.
Despite Chelsea being desperate to sign Kepa and Bilbao characteristically becoming tough negotiators, the £72 million shelled out on the custodian still feels massively exorbitant.
