I was thinking back to the 2006/07 Premier League season the other day and how losing certain players to injury that year cost us retaining the title but just as importantly I think our squad took a but of a hit the Summer gone. Letting players like Gudjohnsen, Gallas (understandable the way he was acting) and (to a lesser extent) Robert Huth go turned out to be quite costly. We had matches where we could have done with two of those three players especially Gallas and Huth as our defence in John Terry and Carvalho took a few injury hits aswell as Boulahrouz been a poor signing.

What are some of the players you think we let go too soon?

Edited May 8, 201510 yr by Bobbywoodhogan

Robben.

Sorry to be the one to say it, but KDB could come back to bite us having been linked quite heavily with City...selling Sturridge was a bad idea as well. 

...selling Sturridge was a bad idea as well. 

 

It would've been a bad idea if he wasn't made of glass. He's injured all the time, so in retrospect it wasn't such a bad idea.

Jon Harley. 

 

Was developing into a promising left back when but seemed to leave the club prematurely. 

 

Scott Parker.

 

Had a difficult first season due to injuries and then Jose came in and we sold him at a £4m loss but then bought in the likes of Smertin and Jarosik who were not better as central midfield players. 

 

Gudjohnsen. 

 

Was a sublimely gifted, technical player and we sold him for a criminally low £8m to Barca. Much better player than the likes of Kalou, Kezman etc. 

Robben is top of my list considering what he has done for Bayern, we still haven't found a RW replacement that have come close to him. I also think it was a big mistake selling KDB, who didn't get many chances to prove himself. 

Zola (one season too early, Roman regretted it.)

Gallas (Wanted to leave, a bit of an idiot.)

Parker (Could have become a very good player for us.)

Tiago (had a decent season for us and then he was sold, Mourinho later said that he regretted it, I think selling him was a very bad decision.)

Crespo (Proved that he was a good player for us, but he couldn't settle, not the clubs fault.)

Diarra (I was annoyed when we sold him, a waste of time to build him up as the next Maka.)

Meireles (He was a decent player and he became popular amongst some of the fans, I wish that he'd stayed for another season.)

Moses (Technically still attached to the club, but after a decent season for us, with his run of goals in the Europa League, I'm not sure loaning him out was the best move.)

Gudjohnsen (I agree with what others have said, a cult hero, one of my all time favourite Chelsea players and selling him to Barca was a stupid decision.)

I was thinking of adding Duff, but he wasn't at his best when he left, I would say Robben but in my opinion, he was too flimsy.

Edited May 8, 201510 yr by Floyd25

Recently, with the exception of Robben none of the above have gone onto greater things than if they'd stayed.  Even with glass knees we won the CL before he did with Bayern.

 

Historically, Andy Townsend left because he wanted to win things!  Ray Wilkins had to go for financial reasons.

 

I wasn't around during the Greaves era!

 

Chelsea have an excellent policy of letting players go when they think it's the right time.

 

KDB may be an interesting one though.

Edited May 8, 201510 yr by Peckham Blue

Torres. He would have thrived with those through balls from Fabregas.

 

Seriously though, Robben has to be THE one, considering how we've struggled to replace him and still continue to do so you could say. 

Zola had promised that he'd go to Cagliari, so there wasn't anything we could do. Tiago and Diarra wanted to leave and there's no point in keeping a player who doesn't want to be at the club. I think Gudjohnsen wanted to leave as well. As much as he loves the club, he wasn't happy with the sort of minutes he was getting in his last season. He has said that he was proud of the second title win, but didn't feel like he contributed to it all that much.

With the exception of Robben none of the above have gone onto greater things than if they'd stayed.  

 

But that's not to say that those players wouldn't have had a different career trajectory had they stayed at Chelsea. 

 

Scott Parker as an example had a respectable playing career after leaving Chelsea and did a decent job at Newcastle, West Ham and Spurs. 

 

Had he stayed with us, playing alongside Lampard, Makalele etc he could potentially have become an even better player. 

 

Playing with the best players and training with the best facilities can go a long way to improving a player. 

Matic, of course, since it cost us a lot to bring him back to the fold.

Scottie P, Ballack, Belletti, Robben, KDB, Crespo...

 

Lukaku...

 

Edited May 8, 201510 yr by the special one

Tiago and Robben for me, although both wanted to leave, I feel could still be valuable players today.

 

Don't agree with Sturridge or De Bruyne, both seemed to want it all handed on a plate, and neither seemed to suit the personality of our squad. They're bigger fish in smaller ponds now, both took the easy route and I don't miss them for it.

Matic, of course, since it cost us a lot to bring him back to the fold.

 

He would never have progressed the way he did if he had stayed at Chelsea. He was a regular starter at Benfica and I doubt he would've started all that many matches at Chelsea. I know it's a shame we had to spend big to get one of our former players back into the club, but I think it was worth it.

Well, we should have just loaned him to Benfica, instead of allowing them to buy him with a huge buyback clause for us to get him back.  Someone should have seen his immense talent here.

Jon Harley. 

 

Was developing into a promising left back when but seemed to leave the club prematurely. 

 

Scott Parker.

 

Had a difficult first season due to injuries and then Jose came in and we sold him at a £4m loss but then bought in the likes of Smertin and Jarosik who were not better as central midfield players. 

 

Gudjohnsen. 

 

Was a sublimely gifted, technical player and we sold him for a criminally low £8m to Barca. Much better player than the likes of Kalou, Kezman etc. 

 

Absolutely agree with Harley and Eidur. Was gutted when Harley left for about £3.5 million because I thought he was coming along nicely.

 

Also....

 

Lamps.

Well, we should have just loaned him to Benfica, instead of allowing them to buy him with a huge buyback clause for us to get him back.  Someone should have seen his immense talent here.

 

Maybe Benfica wouldn't have accepted a loan deal. I think someone at Chelsea saw the potential or there wouldn't have been a buyback clause in his contract.

Recently, with the exception of Robben none of the above have gone onto greater things than if they'd stayed[/b. Even with glass knees we won the CL before he did with Bayern.

Historically, Andy Townsend left because he wanted to win things! Ray Wilkins had to go for financial reasons.

I wasn't around during the Greaves era!

Chelsea have an excellent policy of letting players go when they think it's the right time.

KDB may be an interesting one though.

That's not really my point though, my point was players we got rid of too soon that could have been of use the following season(s). I think looking at the ones ai said in the first comment there's no doubt those three would have been very helpful in the 06-07 season and had we kept them we most likely would have retained the title.

Well, we should have just loaned him to Benfica, instead of allowing them to buy him with a huge buyback clause for us to get him back. Someone should have seen his immense talent here.

No because you can't fault the stability be had either, Matic spent what was it three years there? He wasn't on loan so he didn't have a decision to make every Summer. Playing regularly when he was settled in a team was vital.

Scottie P, Ballack, Belletti, , KDB, Crespo...

Lukaku...

Those two get a huge agreement from me, the 10-11 season we lost too much of the depth that had took us to the title the previous season.

Gudjohnsen. 

 

Was a sublimely gifted, technical player and we sold him for a criminally low £8m to Barca. Much better player than the likes of Kalou, Kezman etc. 

 

I thought Guddy looked a bit stale in his last season. Quality player, though maybe it was the right time for us to part ways. He didn't really pull up any trees after leaving.

 

Generally we're quite good at letting players leave at the right time. There aren't many in recent years who have had me thinking 'damn, if only we'd kept him'. Robben is the stand out who is still world class almost ten years later. Gallas I was disappointed to lose but that was really for non-football reasons. Sturridge also.

I thought Guddy looked a bit stale in his last season. Quality player, though maybe it was the right time for us to part ways. He didn't really pull up any trees after leaving.

 

Gudjohnsen was just a complete surprise buy for us. 

 

We got him for £4m from Bolton who I believe were a League 1 (Championship) side at the time? One of Vialli's last buys and he just slowly proved what a quality player he was. 

 

Jose converted him more into a midfield player than a striker/forward and maybe that's what caused a slight dip in performance. 

 

He was so brilliantly two footed as a player, his close control was one of the best I've ever seen from a Chelsea player. Kalou and Schevchenko came in the summer he left and neither of them got close to what he ever did in Chelsea shirt... 

LAMPARD.

Ballack springs to mind and Carlo should have been given at least another season. I also watched Scottie Parker rule the midfield at Charlton for years, dominated every visiting midfielder it seemed, beast. Then he came here and got a serious injury, he could have been something special. Shame really.

I guess throw Robben and Duff in there too, would have liked to have seen Duffer in 2006/2007.

Torres deserved more time.

Sorry to be the one to say it, but KDB could come back to bite us having been linked quite heavily with City...selling Sturridge was a bad idea as well.

Mata went to MU and it didn't bite us so it's hard to say if KDB would really change dynamic of entire Manchester City but they definetely need to refresh their squad for the next season. It's hard to say.

I'm sure Chelsea will sign some quality as well so it will be interesting to see what happened. Chelsea have their sh*t together while City may be going though the adjustment phase which may also include a new manager / I hope it won't be Jurgen Klopp.

Today I read In Guardian he may actually stay at Bosussia Dortmund.

Mutu in a way...although that was his own doing.

He looked a class act when he first came.