Chelsea have not always made the best decisions in the transfer market over the past few years, enjoying mixed success.
While Fernando Torres continues to struggle for goals in a Chelsea shirt, he can take solace in the fact he is not the only forward to struggle at Stamford Bridge over the years.
New signing Romelu Lukaku has endured a season of frustration on the sidelines, while Serb Mateja Kezman came in on a big reputation and failed to deliver.
One man who was recruited without huge fanfare- but equally struggled, was Claudio Pizarro.
The Peruvian international striker spent just one season at Chelsea, in 2007-08, signing on a Bosman from Bayern Munich.
He was signed by Jose Mourinho, and even scored on his debut against Birmingham City in a 3-2 win, with Florent Malouda also scoring his first league goal in the game.
Mourinho left just weeks later, and Pizarro found himself elbowed out of the picture under Avram Grant, featuring mainly as a substitute or in the FA Cup squad with many second-string players.
His record was not great either, two goals in 21 games, but he was never given a proper chance to settle and a run in the team, with Anelka and Drogba both preferred in attack.
And so he was loaned to Werder Bremen the very next season, where he struck 28 goals.
Despite this the next summer new boss Luiz Scolari deemed him not worthy of a second chance, and sold him to the German club for £5 million.
Well for that price he was an absolute bargain.
He has been phenomenal for them over a four season period, a mainstay and focal point of their attack.
In 140 games he has struck 87 goals, exceeding a 1 in 2 ratio with a breathtaking consistency. He has even gone onto become the record highest scorer in Bundesliga history.
This season he has continued his fine form of the previous three at Bremen, bagging 16 in total.
He has also provided eight assists, and Werder sit in eighth, although are currently without a win in five games.
Bearing in mind Chelsea’s striker struggles over the past 18 months, it is easy to say Pizarro should have been given a second chance.
His main problem was that he is so similar in style to Didier Drogba, who was in great form up until late 2010, and Pizarro never really settled.
Now 33, there is no suggestion of Chelsea buying him back, although many clubs could do worse if they are looking for a proven striker to give a couple of years service.
Regardless, those 87 goals he scored for Bremen since 2008 would have been welcome most welcome at Stamford Bridge, and his brief arrival clearly constitutes an opportunity missed for player and club.
What could Chelsea have done differently with Pizarro?
image: © 2e14
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