He looked a class act when he first came.

 

Not to be sniffed at, that's for sure. 

Completely forgot about Mata FFS... I'll add Schurrle to that list too, but both went for financial reasons so its a little different.

Wow. Mata. Definitely.

I always thought Parker was very unlucky to be here at the same time as Makelele, so not so much that he was let go too early, but more signed too early. 

Robben. Maybe Ballack.

Gerrard 

Robben definitely.

 

With KDB time will tell. He's certainly talented enough to be a Chelsea player. I mean, he looks a much better player than Cuadrado at this point and is Oscar really that much better, if at all?

 

Matic, unfortunately, had no chance of making it here at the time - He had Lampard, Essien, Ballack and Mikel all ahead of him. Thankfully we got him back.

 

Other than that there aren't any others really that I can think of.

KDB, Lukaku.

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.

In Carlos time here it wasn't really up to him who stayed, went or came in I feel. Ballack wanted a two year deal but the club only offered him a year so he left.

I'd have to add Schurrle to my list, I'm still angry over that sale, unless Cuadrado comes good, at the moment he looks like a poor Kalou, who by the way I would take over so many wide players that we have bought in recent times.

Edited May 8, 201510 yr by Floyd25

I'd have to add Schurrle to my list, I'm still angry over that sale, unless Cuadrado comes good, at the moment he looks like a poor Kalou, who by the way I would take over so many wide players that we have bought in recent times.

I'm gonna agree on Schurrle, I know he was in poor form but I can't believe we gave up on him so quickly. I guess the money was too good to turn down.

Robben, Mata, KDB.

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.

 

i dont see the need to bad mouth or ex players like this, just because they saw their future away from chelsea. especially since neither kdb nor sturridge said anything bad about the club.

 

they wanted more playing time, there is nothing wrong with that

 

and by the way, de bruyne is on the brink of moving to an elite european club. he made a step back so he could make 2 steps forward. id say he made a very wise choice considering the circumstances

Edited May 8, 201510 yr by launcher

Robben, Ballack, Carvalho, Schurrle, KdB & Mata

i dont see the need to bad mouth or ex players like this, just because they saw their future away from chelsea. especially since neither kdb nor sturridge said anything bad about the club.

 

they wanted more playing time, there is nothing wrong with that

 

and by the way, de bruyne is on the brink of moving to an elite european club. he made a step back so he could make 2 steps forward. id say he made a very wise choice considering the circumstances

Have not heard he is going to either Bayern, Barca. or Madrid.

Have not heard he is going to either Bayern, Barca. or Madrid.

 

And if he does, he would end up in the same situation he was in here.

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.

I'd agree if we didn't get such a massive profit on the p,Ayer we sswapped Matic for + cash

I agree on Parker and Tiago, but it's also really hard to argue that we missed them considering who we replaced them with - Michael Essien.

 

Tiago elected to leave once Essien was signed and Parker had a lot of potential but injuries meant Mourinho would never see the best of him, sadly. And I agree with ForeverCarefree that had Parker stayed and played alongside Lampard his career would have a totally different trajectory. Considering his ability, it's hard to get past the feeling that he was more content to be a big fish in a small pond.

Robben is probably the only player we never properly replaced, but even then, it's really hard to say we didn't get the best of him. He was the best attacker in the league not called Thierry Henry and won us two Premierships, and remained at the same level since.

Actually it's pretty amazing that this list is so small and so contentious. We've never really had a massive clanger in the last 20 or so years.

Of course, Barak could be right and Scott Sinclair will pick up the Ballon D'or next year...

Robben is probably the only player we never properly replaced, but even then, it's really hard to say we didn't get the best of him. He was the best attacker in the league not called Thierry Henry and won us two Premierships, and remained at the same level since.

 

Robben won us two premierships? I would go as far as saying we would have won them without him. I don't think we saw anywhere near the best of Robben, mainly due to injuries. Also, the Robben of last three seasons is clearly a better player than the one we had.

No way. Especially in 2004/05.

It was Robben's performance against Everton and his goal that sparked our belief.

Why did we sell Meireles? He could have been a decent squad player. We were bare bones that 2012/13 season after we got rid of almost everyone.

When he played, he was very good. Just injured most of the time or not fully fit.

When he played, he was very good. Just injured most of the time or not fully fit.

 

Meireles? When AVB was here, he was hardly injured, just really sh*t. He became a better player as the season went on and scored a sweet goal against Benfica in our CL run. In any case, a decent box to box midfielder we let go to soon. I'm sure he had two or three seasons left in him. 

Meant Robben. Just saw your initial comment now.

Robben won us two premierships? I would go as far as saying we would have won them without him. I don't think we saw anywhere near the best of Robben, mainly due to injuries. Also, the Robben of last three seasons is clearly a better player than the one we had.

Agreed, if anyone won us the two it was Frank Lampard and John Terry.

Also Robben was not our stand out player in 05-06 that was Joe Cole.

But tbh I hate that sort of comment, the team won us the trophies not just one player.

Edited May 9, 201510 yr by Bobbywoodhogan