I was just thinking about Nando (Yes I miss him THAT much) and thinking about when players have signed for Chelsea and have completely blown you away either in the good or bad sense of the term.

Also, what are the signings you never saw coming or expected and never happened? We all remember

the Robinho saga back in 2009 (5 years ago today).

What players or transfers have you been blown away by over the years?

Edited September 1, 201411 yr by MissouriBlue

Hazard comes to mind.  Every team in Europe was after him, we didn't seem in the running, then he announces he's "chosen the European Champions" shortly after we win it.

Hazard comes to mind.  Every team in Europe was after him, we didn't seem in the running, then he announces he's "chosen the European Champions" shortly after we win it.

That's a good one surprise signing, I remember thinking City had that one in the bag.

Was overjoyed when we signed Torres.. Lol. Hazard definetly springs to mind, Oscar also. Thank god for Didier, without him we would of probably had neither.

Was overjoyed when we signed Torres.. Lol. Hazard definetly springs to mind, Oscar also. Thank god for Didier, without him we would of probably had neither.

Agreed! I feel like winning the champions league really did take us to the next level. We are in such a strong position for attracting the top echelon of players and financially we becoming self sufficient. We finally made it, a la Del Trotter!

Edited September 1, 201411 yr by MissouriBlue

Rudd Gullitt, we were meant to be making the massive signing or Gazza!!!

Ruud gullit or Marcel desailly, both absolutely blew me away.

George Weah on loan was pretty epic.

Delighted: Hazard, Lukaku, De Bruyne, Torres, Hasselbaink, Sutton, Anelka - obviously only three worked out on that list

Disappointed: Robinho (worked out very well), Deco (wasn't bad but ultimately didn't do enough)

Delighted: Hazard, Lukaku, De Bruyne, Torres, Hasselbaink, Sutton, Anelka - obviously only three worked out on that list

Disappointed: Robinho (worked out very well), Deco (wasn't bad but ultimately didn't do enough)

Deco started really well for us too, I remember watching him in our first EPL game that season and being blown

away.

How about the biggest surprise to join our club ever, bloody multi billionaire Roman Abramovich. That was a mad few days when that news broke.

How about the biggest surprise to join our club ever, bloody multi billionaire Roman Abramovich. That was a mad few days when that news broke.

Didn't seem real until he bid 30m for nesta the next day!

Ruud gullit or Marcel desailly, both absolutely blew me away.

Desailly for me

Gullitt was a fantastic signing for us, a world star.

Biggest disappointment was easily Shevchenko. Top world striker and one of my favourites comes to the bridge and in my mind he would be smacking goals in left right and centre and not a defence could hold him. I saw at least 30 a season from him. Oh well.

Deco started really well for us too, I remember watching him in our first EPL game that season and being blown

away.

Yeah unfortunately his great start didn't last, if he was signed years earlier I think he'd have adapted better

I was blown away when we signed Chris Sutton. Obviously, internet wasn't what it is today, so I found out via the back pages of the paper. My cousin was a Blackburn supporter too, so much banter was had... until he started playing. Massively disappointing.

Same with Torres. Was excited he signed for us... until he played.

Vialli was a lovely surprise aswell. Juve were massive back then. I still remember waking up that morning with my brother slapping me in the face with the newspaper all excited and pointing to the article.

Not many "surprise" signings these days to be honest due to the internet, the online press and rumour mill. You think there may be one more surprise tonight? Obviously not necessary after this terrific transfer window. But we have more space now and stranger things have happened.

Edited September 1, 201411 yr by theblueone

I was on holiday when another Chelsea fan I for pally with told me his dad had just told him we had signed Sutton for £10. Both of us were so happy and spent large parts of the rest of the holiday talking about formations to get the best out of him. We were wrong.

Ballack and Sheva, over the moon with the pair of them.

Ruud and sparky...

Ruud was my all time favorite player at the time but seemed light years abouve us and I had long had a begrudging admiration for mark huges so to get them both at the same time was a dream... we didnt realy improve though

Edited September 1, 201411 yr by barak81

I think Makelele has to be up there for one of the best surprises for me. I had only really started following

football in the early 2000s so I wasn't very familiar with other leagues at that time. He was amazing, so composed

all the time, for someone who wasn't aware of how good he was seeing him settle in and play was a revelation.

The Russian Ronaldinho. Thought he would win us the champions league.

I forgot Sparky, was well shocked and happy when we did

Ballack for me, I think more so than any signing before it displayed our ability to attract players in the very top tier of class.

The biggest ones are Ballack, Sheva and Torres. Ballack and Sheva were house hold names and were superstars. At the time it seemed like Ballack was going to go to United so when we signed him I was well pleased.

I was so excited we signed Torres. Having seen him destroy us each and every time we played Liverpool I thought he would slot right in we would start ripping up the league.

We have signed other good players like Crespo, Hazard and Del Horno (lol) but not having seen them play much, if at all before I wasnt so excited. Everyone knew the buzz around Hazard and the comments that Joe Cole was making about him but to me he was just all talk at the time. Flirting with every big team to get the best possible deal. You can blame him but I cant say I was super excited because of the way he was acting at the time.

Speaking of Joe Cole he is another player I was pleased we signed. Him and Duff I was really pleased that he had signed.

I remember being pleased when we signed Duncan McKenzie - I thought he was brilliant.