Many players have come and gone through the revolving doors at Stamford Bridge over the last few years. Have Chelsea always made the right decisions in letting players go? With the benefit of hindsight, here are five they may have been wrong on…
Arjen Robben
The Dutch winger has the X-Factor that Chelsea’s play has lacked at times this season. He signed for Chelsea in 2004, snubbing a move to Manchester United, but left the club for Real Madrid three years later. He was a key part of Chelsea’s title winning side, but struggled was injuries, frustrating his manager Jose Mourinho and the fans. He went onto perform well at Madrid for two seasons, before being sold to Bayern Munich, where he really excelled. His volley knocked Manchester United out of the Champions League, and he has scored more than 30 goals in just over 50 games, a terrific rate for a winger. His injury problems still persist, but his record at the top level over the last five years (2007-2012) shows that letting him go may have been an error. He remains an international, a World Cup runner-up in 2010, and will get a chance to show Chelsea fans what they are missing against when Holland play England tomorrow.
Miroslav Stoch
The 22-year-old Slovak spent four years in Chelsea’s youth system before leaving in 2010, but only made four appearances. He spent a year on loan at Steve McClaren’s Twente side in Holland, helping them become Dutch champions, scoring 10 goals along the way. When he came back to the Bridge, he was immediately sold the next summer for around £4 million to Turkish side Fenerbahce. In Turkey, he is now a league champion, helping the club win the league last year, playing in the same side as Arsenal’s Andre Santos. He wears the number nine shirt and this season has scored eight times in 19 games, a very good ratio for a young winger. Only 22, and now a league title winner in two countries, he has years ahead of him left at the top and it seems at this early stage that Chelsea did indeed make a mistake in allowing him to leave.
Scott Sinclair
Chelsea have invested a lot of money in their youth system over the last decade, snapping up youngsters from lower league clubs and hoping they will flourish. It hasn’t really paid off. So it seems strange that the one English star that was in their ranks they allowed to leave so easily. Sinclair was bought from Bristol Rovers and loaned out to several clubs, including Wigan, before being sold to Swansea for just £500,000. The club should have been more patient with him, because he has flourished now, and is performing superbly for Swansea in the Premier League, and has even been linked with a move to Liverpool.
Fabio Borini
The Italian striker has just earned his first call-up to Italy’s first team, after scoring two goals for Roma against Inter Milan last week. He had been a teammate of Sinclair’s, on loan at Swansea last season, where he scored six goals in nine games. Chelsea were not able to persuade him to sign a new contract, as they could not guarantee him first team opportunities, and he signed with Parma in the summer, before being loaned to Roma with an option to buy. If he goes onto become a star of Euro 2012 for Italy, Chelsea fans really will be scratching their heads as to how he was allowed to leave to easily.
Lassana Diarra
To be fair to Chelsea, they do not have the benefit of hindsight, but had they foreseen Michael Essien’s injury troubles you have to wonder whether they would have let Diarra go so easily. He was sold to Arsenal in 2007, after making just a handful of appearances, but only stayed at the Gunners for six months before moving to Portsmouth in search of first team football. His exploits on the south coast attracted the attentions of Real Madrid for £16 million. He has played for the Spanish club over 80 times since 2009 and could certainly have been useful for Chelsea considering Essien’s extended absences over the past couple of years.
Do you agree with any of these? Let us know
image: © Lorenzo Blangiardi
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