Roman's decade at Chelsea - The best and worst transfers

Roman Abramovich

10 years ago, before the final league match against Liverpool, the news was broken to the players in the Chelsea dressing room – If the club is to survive in the EPL, we need to qualify for the Champions League, we need that revenue – the players though knew the condition of the club already, realized it more than ever that they are about to play the biggest match of their Chelsea career yet. And they delivered!

2 teams vying for the final Champions League slot, playing against each other on the final day.

Even after being 1-0 down in the first 20 minutes, veteran captain Marcel Desailly kept his head up (literally) and headed in the equalizer minutes later from Gronkjaer’s corner. A draw would have been enough for Chelsea to sneak through on goal difference, but a strike from Gronkjaer settled it straight and fair.

Players were happy. Though they knew they might be facing the same danger next season, they were happy that they have literally saved the club from going into administration and a demotion to the Championship for this season.

But little did they know, the win had caught the eye of a certain Russian going by the name of Roman Abramovich. That win convinced Roman enough to invest what is going to be the biggest investment in a Premier League club ever. The investment certainly changed the fortunes of Chelsea Football Club; transfers, wages, infrastructure, publicity, fan base all have improved since that day and are still on the rise. And Chelsea this month celebrated a decade of Roman’s era.

Looking back at these 10 years, I thought about giving a look at the most visible impact that was seen as a result of the takeover – Player Transfer. So, here are what I think are the 5 worst and the 5 best buys of Roman’s era.

Worst Buys:

1. Shaun Wright-Phillips -

Shaun Wright-Phillips

By far, Wright-Phillips is the worst signing for Chelsea in the past 10 years. One would also remember the sting operation on the then England manager Sven Goran Eriksson where he also stated that Shaun is bought at a price way above his playing ability. 3 years in the club, yet he didn’t even play 100 matches for Chelsea, and scored 4 goals in all for the club – a sheer waste of 24 million GBP I would say.

2. Juan Sebastian Veron –

Juan Sebastian Veron (R)

SAF did not believe his luck when he was given a chance by Reneri to redeem his mistake and money he spent on Veron. A decent player for his country and at the clubs he played for in Italy, he never lived up to the expectations in England. A half-witted signing by Ranieri failed as expected. 15 million GBP down the drain.

3. Adrian Mutu –

Adrian Mutu

No doubt the guy had the ability – he proved it at Juve and Florentina again after being sold by Chelsea – his career at CFC came to a sorry end when he tested positive for cocaine. He was still young too when he signed for Chelsea. He had a difficult relationship with Jose, and in the end it was 15 million GBP spent for him for just a season.

4. Khalid Boulahrouz –

Khalid Boulahrouz

Seeing this guy on field always cracked me up. A defender wearing No.9 shirt! Don’t know if any other defender in the world has achieved this feat. Normally played out of position, he could manage only 13 appearances in 2 seasons he was at Chelsea, thanks to lengthy injuries.

5. Andriy Shevchenko –

Andriy Shevchenko

No list of failed transfers can be complete without mentioning Sheva’s name. High price tag, higher hopes, disappointing spell. Milan’s medical team had indeed done a great job in analyzing the years left in Sheva’s career and finally giving a go-ahead to the AC Milan board for his transfer to Chelsea. Chelsea however, were too adamant for him to look into the finer details. Big big waste of money.

Best Buys:

1. Didier Drogba –

Didier Drogba

“Judge him when he leaves the club” he said. He said it right, they later said! Jose was ridiculed by many pundits for paying 24 million GBP for an unproven player. But slowly, DD became the face of the club. Certainly, the ‘big man’ for the ‘big match’ player. His famous goals include the ones scored in 8 finals at Wembley and with his final kick in a Chelsea shirt against Bayern Munich. He remains a legend for the club.

2. Petr Cech –

Petr Cech

Season after season this man has improved and has not stopped since. He has the record number of clean sheets and was the goalie when Chelsea conceded least number of goals in a season (15). He can be used as a synonym for consistency and for me, was the best performer for Chelsea when they won the UCL a season back. He was a steal for 9 million GBP.

Fun fact – Petr Cech can speak in 5 different languages.

3. Ashley Cole –

Ashley Cole

Jose was accused of not contacting him through proper channels to get him to Chelsea. 5 million GBP plus Gallas is way to cheap when you look at the way this vintage player has improved since coming to Chelsea. He did struggle a bit in the beginning, but never had anyone doubted that he will jump back. Signed in 2006, he’s still the first choice LB for Chelsea.

4. Juan Mata –

Juan Mata

2 years in the club and has won a Champions League, 1 FA Cup and a Europa League, and was the key performer in all those competition. I’m pretty sure that all the rumors regarding him being sold are just that, rumours. He has a magnificent personality on and off the pitch, and has already reimbursed the 23 million GBP paid for him.

5. Claude Makélélé -

Claude Makélélé

I quote Florentino Perez here -

“We will not miss Makélelé. His technique is average, he lacks the speed and skill to take the ball past opponents, and ninety percent of his distribution either goes backwards or sideways. He wasn’t a header of the ball, and he rarely passed the ball more than three metres. Younger players will arrive who will cause Makélelé to be forgotten.”

This is what was said about him when he was transferred to Chelsea. 3 seasons since then, Chelsea had won 2 Premier League titles, 2 League Cups, a Community Shield and a FA Cup. Real Madrid had won nothing. He was so good at his work that people sometimes call his position the “Makele Role”. In 2005, he was selected as a member of the World XI at the FIFPro awards.