Chelsea are regarded as one of the most successful clubs in the Premier League era. In spite of this, the Blues have also had their fair share of mistakes and flops, as is the case for nearly all teams, regardless of stature.
Below are five of the biggest mistake signings that were made by Chelsea.
5. Juan Sebastian Veron
After Veron flopped at Manchester United, Chelsea signed him for £15 million in 2003 and thought they could bring out the best in him. However, the former Argentina international failed to live up to expectations, managing just one goal from 14 appearances for the Blues in all competitions and was sent on loan to Inter Milan and Estudiantes before he joined the Argentine club permanently upon the expiration of his contract at Stamford Bridge in 2007.
4. Yossi Benayoun
After a successful spell with Liverpool, Benayoun joined Chelsea in 2010 for £5.5 million. However, things did not go very well for the Israel international. To make matters worse, the club allowed him to join Arsenal on loan during the summer of 2011. This was in spite of the fact that Arsenal were then a direct rival of the Blues.
3. Andriy Shevchenko
Shevchenko arrived at Stamford Bridge from AC Milan in 2006, a time at which he was regarded as one of the most lethal strikers in world football. Many expected that he could propel Chelsea to trophies. The former Ukraine international failed to live up to expectations and managed just 22 goals in three years.
Nevertheless, Shevchenko was successful at Milan with whom he won one Serie A title and one Champions League title. He did also have a successful spell with Dynamo Kyiv in his homeland of Ukraine before retiring from football in 2012.
2. Mark Bosnich
In 2001, Chelsea decided to take on the then-highly-rated Bosnich after he struggled to get regular playing time with Manchester United following the arrival of Fabien Barthez.
During his two years with the Blues, Bosnich managed only several appearances for the first team and was earning £45,500 per week.
He failed a drugs test in September 2002 and was subsequently sacked by Chelsea and banned from professional football for nine months. Bosnich ended up taking a five-year hiatus from professional football before making a return with Central Coast Mariners in Australia in 2008. His last stint was with Sydney Olympic in 2009.
1. Fernando Torres
During his time with Liverpool, Torres had come to be regarded as one of the best footballers in the world as he went on to score 81 goals in all competitions from 142 appearances for the Reds.
This led to Chelsea forking out £50 million to sign the Spaniard in January 2011, which made him the then sixth most expensive footballer in history. However, during a four-year spell with the Blues, Torres managed just 20 goals from 110 Premier League appearances.
This was not what Chelsea had hoped for when they signed him, especially as he had scored 65 Premier League goals for Liverpool from 102 appearances between 2007-2011.
