Chelsea's 5 most expensive mistakes
The Premier League is not for every player - here is a look into why these expensive Chelsea signings flopped
Timo Werner recently admitted to struggling with the toughness of the Premier League, as well as fixture congestion.
He reassured fans by claiming that he has the mentality to overcome this though and is determined to be a success in the Premier League.
It reminded me of a number of Chelsea signings in recent years who have been very expensive purchases off the back of extensive scouting missions, to only end up flopping at the club and becoming a very expensive mistake. I’ll point out that this is not me saying Werner will be a flop, far from it - I have full belief in him.
In no particular order, here is 5 players who unfortunately fall under the category of ‘expensive flops.’
Kepa Arrizabalaga (£71.6m)
He will soon be on his way out of Stamford Bridge, but Chelsea are left with the almost impossible task of finding a club who are willing to pay anywhere near to what Chelsea will want for him, and a club who can afford his high wages.
Frank Lampard had no choice but to sign Edouard Mendy to replace Kepa this season, the Spaniard was literally losing Chelsea matches with his errors directly leading to goals. But why did Chelsea not only spend over £70 million on him, but also sign him to a 7-year deal?
Well, simply because they had scouted him for many years and he was a club target for some time. He was one of the best young goalkeepers around and was rated highly by many coaches and scouts.
Does this mean Chelsea scouts failed? No, this is an age old case of Kepa not being mentally strong enough and losing self-belief after making so many errors. The pressure of having the whole world watching you expecting you to make mistake after mistake. Unfortunately he has a long way to go to save his career now, but he needs to show the inner strength and belief to do it.
Alvaro Morata - (£59m)
The one major positive here is that Chelsea have lost barely any money on this expensive mistake, somehow managing to get almost all of it back selling him to Atletico Madrid.
But unfortunately he still makes the list here because he was a flop at Chelsea, a failed purchase. But why? When he arrived he was scoring for fun.
But again, a different league, different country, new surroundings; he simply just could not settle, and it made him angry and frustrated which had an adverse effect on the pitch.
I believe in his mind he was having constant battles, he would miss easy chances and look to blame everyone and everything but himself. He would be a yard offside, but scream at the linesman even though he clearly called it correctly. His head was constantly down and he was defeated very early on in his Chelsea career.
Chelsea spent out on him because he was a goal-scorer, but really they should have worked on replacing Diego Costa with a similar profile to Costa - a warrior ready to lead the line, one who will not give up and only challenge himself more. Morata was a mistake from the start.
Danny Drinkwater - (£35m)
He was an England international who had just won the league with Leicester City against all the odds. Chelsea thought they were signing a very good homegrown midfielder, and I personally was never against it for squad depth and experience - but I would never have paid as much as Chelsea did, this was the mistake.
Drinkwater has never been a bad player, he can always do a job. But his Chelsea career was always doomed, and I believe he regrets the move and it has haunted him ever since. Before Chelsea he was on top of the world, now he is plagued with drama and wasting away his career in the Chelsea U23s.
He was never going to be a regular for Chelsea, and unfortunately he was signed by the club for Antonio Conte, who only ever wanted him as a plan B, but the board would not sanction all of his plan A targets.
He continues to make life mistakes off the pitch and a lot of this is probably from the effect of a bad career choice. I genuinely wish the best for him and hope he can save his career.
Tiemoue Bakayoko - (£40m)
Another Conte signing, but this time a first choice. I remember every single fan being excited about Bakayoko, what a signing it was bringing in the Champions League player of the Tournament from the season before, and expectations were high.
He had been scouted extensively and was touted as being one of the best up and coming all-round combative midfielders in the game. But he flopped at Chelsea, there are no two ways about it.
I don’t think he flopped due to his mentality though, I purely think he was just taking far too long to collectively settle in to the league, and he found it tough.
Again, not a bad player, and he is having a decent season in Serie A for Napoli this year; maybe that league just suits him better, maybe he has just found his niche.
Baba Rahman (£23m)
There are a few other players that could be on here, but Rahman makes it on to the list purely because he has played for Chelsea but a handful of times, cost almost £25 million, and will leave the club for a mere fraction of that - the definition of an expensive mistake.
He is still in the Chelsea ranks and has played a couple games for the U23s this season, but he will never play for the senior squad again I can say that with confidence.
This is just a case of bad scouting I believe, seeing the potential in a player that never actually came out unfortunately.