Ranking Chelsea's 5 best transfer windows

The January transfer window is here and the rumour mill is shaking off its winter blues and picking up the heat. Chelsea, on one hand, are going about their business silently as they learnt from their mistakes from the summer window, to act fast and sign up Ross Barkley for a fee of £15 million.

Antonio Conte still has his qualms about the support that he is getting from the board in the transfer market and that is the only issue that is stopping this year from being a great one at Stamford Bridge.

Over the years though, Chelsea have had some great transfer windows which helped the club in either winning titles or in establishing Chelsea as a footballing powerhouse in England and Europe.

Let us have a look at few of those seasons(summer and winter windows combined) which saw important and iconic players don the royal blue jersey and cement their place in Stamford Bridge folklore.

Honourable mentions:

1948-1949: Roy Bentley moved from Newcastle to Chelsea in a £12,500 transfer after his doctor suggested him to move to the south of England as a remedy for his lung problems. He would then lead Chelsea to their first English League title in 1955 and finish his career with 150 goals, level with the legendary Peter Osgood.

2007-2008: Although it remained a turbulent season for Chelsea with the sacking of Jose Mourinho, and the Champions League final shootout loss to Manchester United, the season saw Florent Malouda(summer) along with Nicolas Anelka and Branislav Ivanovic(winter) move to London. They would soon go on to win a league title in 2010, under Carlo Ancelotti.

1995-1996: The year of the 'Foreign Revolution' saw Ballon d'Or winner Ruud Gullit, Manchester United legend Mark Hughes and the Romanian full-back Dan Petrescu move to Chelsea. This was the beginning of a new era at the club with Ruud Gullit becoming a very important figure in the club's history, as it began its journey to become the global brand that it is now.

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#5 The arrival of Roman Abramovic (2003-2004)

Makalele(R) was one of the first signings of the Abramovic era

Roman Abramovic did not waste any time in showing his intentions towards making Chelsea a force to reckon with, by spending over £150 million in his first season as the owner. Claudio Ranieri went ahead and bought players like Hernan Crespo, Damien Duff, Claude Makélélé, Joe Cole, Wayne Bridge and Glen Johnson to name a few.

Although Crespo did not live up to his transfer fee and the expectation from the fans, players like Duff, Makelele and Cole quickly became the spine of the new look Chelsea. Makelele, in hindsight, was a shrewd piece of business as he was bought from Real Madrid at a time when he was deemed surplus to requirement at the Spanish club.

He silenced his critics by becoming the best in the world in his position to a point that the central defensive midfield position is named after him now.

#4 The Italian Revolution (1996-1997)

Gianfranco Zola mesmerized the crowds for seasons to come

With Ruud Gullit at the helm, Chelsea became an attractive destination for foreigners who wanted to play in the English League.

Roberto Di Matteo signed up for a then club record fee of £4.9 million. Gianluca Vialli, who was a Sampdoria and Juventus legend by then, moved to London in a free transfer. The winter window saw Chelsea break their transfer record again to bring in Gianfranco Zola for £5.58 million.

Needless to say, the three of them went on to become Chelsea legends in many ways. Vialli managed Chelsea to a historic treble in 1998.

Di Matteo won Chelsea its first ever UEFA Champions League title - something Roman Abramovic craved for since buying the club in 2003. And Zola mesmerized the Stamford Bridge crowd for years with his magical feet and ever-positive presence.

Another signing that doesn't get the spotlight it deserves is that of the Frenchman Frank Leboeuf. He made the centre-back position his own and had his best years at Chelsea both domestically and Internationally, his highest point being the 1998 World Cup win with France.

#3 The boy from West Ham (2001-2002)

Lampard leads Chelsea's all-time goalscoring charts as a midfielder

With the departure of manager Harry Redknapp and assistant Frank Lampard Sr., a certain Frank Lampard Jr. looked elsewhere for the development of his career.

With the prospect of playing in Europe and working under a good manager like Ranieri, Lampard made a controversial switch to Chelsea for a fee of £14 million, a move which angered both the sets of fans, as he was moving across the city.

None of this fettered Lampard though, as he kept his head down and worked hard year after year to become arguably the best goalscoring midfielder the country has ever seen.

While many thought that Chelsea were overpaying for him, the fee turned out to be an absolute bargain as he became a priceless presence at the club after helping them win their first league title after 50 years, and many more trophies after that.

The season also saw William Gallas and Robert Huth, two robust central defenders, move to Chelsea and play a huge part in the league titles that followed. This year would have been higher up the ranking if not for the most talented player that Chelsea have ever signed.

#2 "I choose the Champions League winners" (2012-2013)

Belgian Eden Hazard moved to Chelsea from Lille for £32 million

It would be hard to find someone who would disagree with the notion that Eden Hazard is one of the most talented players ever to grace the pitch at Stamford Bridge.

After a whirlwind season in which Chelsea finished 6th in the league while winning the FA cup and their first ever Champions League, Hazard decided to sign for Chelsea for a fee of £32 million while making his European ambitions clear.

His dream of winning the Champions League hasn't been fulfilled yet, but 6 seasons, 275 appearances and 81 goals later, he has cemented his place as a Chelsea legend. In hindsight, the fee that the club paid for him looks to be an absolute bargain as he carried the side and still does, through thick and thin, with his ethereal vision and mazy dribbling.

Another signing which definitely went under the radar when it happened was the £7 million purchase of Caesar Azpilicueta from Marseille. He was initially bought as a backup to Ivanovic for the right-back spot.

But no one ever imagined that he would go on to make the left-back spot his own over the years to come. His ability to play anywhere in the back line makes him a prized asset for the team.

Sharing the dressing room with stalwarts like John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba has also improved his leadership qualities. Qualities which he uses today to organise and lead the team from the back.

Both Hazard and Azpilicueta have been indispensable for the team and will continue to be so for many more years to come, making this particular transfer window a rather significant one.

#1 The Jose Mourinho era (2004-2005)

Didier Drogba wins the Champions League for Chelsea with his final spot kick

After Ranieri failed to win the league, the board brought in a young Jose Mourinho who was fresh off his Champions League win with FC Porto.

He wasted little time in getting to work, as he made use of the financial muscle available at his disposal to buy Didier Drogba, Petr Cech, Ricardo Carvalho, Arjen Robben, Paulo Ferreira, Alex, Tiago and Mateja Kezman, spending nearly £150 million in the process.

With these signings, Chelsea immediately became world beaters as they went on to win the next two Premier League titles, building on a solid defence, team tactics and individual brilliance of players like Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, John Terry, Petr Cech and Arjen Robben.

The players he bought formed the spine of Chelsea for a decade and more, the biggest testament being the 2012 Champions League win where Drogba scored the winning penalty, finishing the work that Mourinho started in the summer of 2004.

None of the players still play for the team but they will forever remain in the hearts of every Chelsea fan, for giving them the best years the club has ever seen.