Juan Cuadrado’s departure from Chelsea for Juventus brings to end a short, unspectacular stay at Stamford Bridge.
The
Colombian winger made just four Chelsea starts and 13 Premier League
appearances in total after his £24m move from Fiorentina in February,
putting him in contention to be one of the biggest transfer flops at
Chelsea in the Roman Abramovich era. The list of candidates for that
dubious accolade is substantial, however.
Here Nick Harris sifts through the debris to find the most dreadful dozen deals in that bracket.
Forward Juan Cuadrado was mobbed by Juventus fans on his arrival at Malpensa Airport in northern Italy
Cuadrado did not enjoy the best of times at west London outfit Chelsea following his move from Fiorentina
Try
as they might, quite a number of contenders have not made the final
cut, either because they were free and therefore not overly risky, or
they simply weren’t terrible enough. Just.
The
likes of Alexei Smertin, Steve Sidwell, Tal Ben Haim, Claudio Pizarro
and Yossi Benayoun are among the motley crew who fell into this
category. The dozen who made it are, in reverse order:
Steve Sidwell and Claudio Pizarro failed to light up Stamford Bridge after arriving in west London on frees
12. Slobodan Rajkovic - £3.8m
The
teenaged Serbian centre-half was aged just 16 when Jose Mourinho agreed
to pay more than 5 million euros (then £3.8m) for him from OFK Belgrade
in 2005, letting them keep him until 2007.
Bureaucratic
incompetence meant Chelsea never acquired a work permit for him so he
never played a competitive minute, going on a series of loans before
begging to be released in 2011.
Slobodan Rajkovic was just 16 when Jose Mourinho agreed to pay £3.8million for his services in 2005
11 Jiri Jarosik - £3m
Not particularly expensive and not particularly bad but definitely up there in the ‘meh’ category.
Mourinho
spent £3m to get him from CSKA Moscow, used him during the season
run-in and then bought a much better player (Essien) to use instead,
shipping Jarosik on loan to Birmingham before flogging him at a loss to
Celtic.
Jiri Jarosik was not particularly bad but went under the radar before moving to Birmingham on loan
10 Mateja Kezman - £5.5m
It’s the unremarkable returns that he delivered when set against the stellar expectations that get Kezman onto this list.
His
price tag of around £5.5m wasn’t especially onerous, even in 2004, but
he arrived with a Dutch Footballer of the Year award, not to mention 105
league goals in 122 games for PSV. Then he scored four goals and left.
Mateja Kezman arrived at Chelsea with 105 goals in 122 games for PSV but managed just four for the Blues
9 Asier del Horno - £8m
The Spanish defender made 25 league appearances in his one season at Stamford Bridge and helped them win the title in 2005-06.
So
his £8m fee isn’t the worst cash Chelsea ever spent. But he’ll be
remembered for getting red-carded against Barcelona for a challenge on
Lionel Messi in an aggregate defeat. And being shown the door
thereafter.
Asier del Horno won the Premier League title in his one season with Chelsea before being sold to Valencia
8 Khalid Boulahrouz - £9m
The
£9m he cost on the back of a decent reputation at Hamburg wasn’t small
change, especially for a player primarily hired as a back-up.
But
after a decent start, injuries to his knee and shoulder contributed to
him dropping out of favour and 13 league games in two years, albeit with
a year of that on loan at Sevilla, offered a poor return.
Khalid Boulahrouz's Chelsea career was hindered by knee and shoulder injuries and he let the club in 2008
7 Fernando Torres - £50m
The
£50m price tag hung around his neck like an anvil. Aside from Angel di
Maria at Manchester United, he remains the most expensive player ever
bought by an English club. In his defence, he helped Chelsea win the FA
Cup and two European trophies. But 20 league goals in four years for a
megabucks star striker is not the stuff of dreams.
Fernando Torres arrived at Chelsea from Liverpool for £50million and the huge price tag weighed down heavy
6 Yuri Zhirkov - £18m
Zhirkov
takes us well into the territory of players whose transfer fees alone
worked out at more than half a millions pounds per league appearance
(£620,000 in his case), before hefty salary was added. Never clear who
wanted him at the Bridge but certainly fellow Russian Abramovich had to
sign the cheque.
Yuri Zhirkov proved a very costly purchase - each league appearance cost more than half a million pounds
5 Andriy Shevchenko - £30m
Now
this definitely WAS a case of the Chelsea owner deciding that he wanted
a particular player and was willing to spend a massive sum to get him,
despite him being nearly 30 and costing £30m.
Jose
Mourinho didn’t want him, and though the Portuguese manager was gone
before the player, Shevchenko’s nine goals in three years on a massive
salary was a woeful return.
Abramovich was determined to sign Andriy Shevchenko despite the fact the striker was soon approaching 30
4 Marko Marin - £7m
Six league appearances in three years after a £7m move in the summer of 2012 pretty much tell the story.
Aged
23 on signing from Werder Bremen, he was never in the ‘young kid we’ll
wait to mature’ category. Rather he didn’t cut the mustard, spent
2013-14 on loan at Sevilla, then last season at Fiorentina.
Cost more than £1m per Chelsea league game.
Marko Marin has made just 15 appearances since signing in 2012 and has been loaned out three times
3 Adrian Mutu - £15.8m
And
so to the podium places of pitiful value. Mutu was among the first of
the star names through the door when Abramovich bought Chelsea, and they
paid an oligarch’s premium price of £15.8m to get him from Parma.
Four
goals in his first three games gave him a stunning start. A rapid tail
off in form, a fallout with incomer Jose Mourinho, a cocaine habit, a
drugs ban and a breach of contract dispute turned his time in London
into a nightmare. For all.
Adrian Mutu got off to a stunning start scoring four in three games but then suffered anightmare spelluffered from
2 Juan Cuadrado - £25m
The video clips circulating on social media of his frenzied arrival in Italy suggest Juventus are about to unveil a messiah.
Some
Chelsea fans might be forgiven for not being especially familiar with
what he can do in England, so fleeting were most of his appearances
since arriving this year - for £25m. That’s almost £2m per game, most of
them as a sub.
Cuadrado spent just six months at Stamford Bridge and failed to make any real impact on the Premier League
1 Juan Veron - £15m
Another
of the early buys when Abramovich gave Claudio Ranieri the green light
to spent more than £100m in the Russian owner’s first summer at
Chelsea.
Veron
was capable of brilliance, but he rarely showed it in England and
Chelsea were even less successful than Manchester United at getting the
best from him.
Seven
league games in four years (albeit years including loan spells
elsewhere) for £15m makes him the worst pound for pound purchase in the
Roman Abramovich era.
Juan Sebastian Veron takes top spot in Sportsmail's rundown of Chelsea flops in the Abramovich era
CHELSEA'S DREADFUL DOZEN: THE BIGGEST FLOPS OF ABRAMOVICH ERA?
*The cost does not take into account wages*
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