Five Chelsea flops who shone after leaving

Cameron Smith

• 15 Feb 2022 19:18 GMT
• 6 min read

Chelsea's seemingly infinite amount of resources lends itself nicely to a transfer policy of big-money signings, rather than shrewd, under-the-radar moves.

Bankrolled by Roman Abramovich, the club have been able to fund huge signings, and it's enabled them to climb into the elite group of European clubs.

However, the revolving door strategy when it comes to both players and managers sometimes leads to poor planning for the future. With so many different footballing ideologies presented at Stamford Bridge and the Cobham training facility over recent times, naturally some players won't fit in, while players who were previously outcasted may find a new lease of life.

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This sometimes enables the club to sell any deadwood, which funds a larger move, but occasionally leads to a player who didn't quite fit in at Chelsea excelling elsewhere.

It's also an issue that has come to prominence more and more since the turn of the century. Chelsea's hit to miss ratio in the transfer market is fairly positive, but in regards to sales there has been some questionable decision making, although hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Here are five Chelsea flops who shone after leaving.

Mohamed Salah

Starting with perhaps the most in-form player in world football during the 2021/22 season, Mohamed Salah was a Chelsea player, but it just didn't work out.

The Stamford Bridge-based outfit signed the Egyptian forward after he tore them apart in the Europa League in 2012/13 and the Champions League in 2013/14, but it wasn't a perfect match.

Jose Mourinho's preferred forward line-up kept their place in the starting XI, and Salah was forced to watch from the sidelines. In a rare cameo appearance, he came on in the 6-0 drubbing of Arsenal, scoring the final goal.

Now a consistent performer for Liverpool, especially against Chelsea, Salah has scored 148 goals for the Reds, and has helped the win to win both the Champions League and the Premier League.

A huge mistake om Chelsea's part.

Kevin de Bruyne

Similar to the situation with Salah, the competition for places at Chelsea left Kevin de Bruyne as a peripheral figure. Juan Mata, Oscar and Eden Hazard were the preferred trio behind the striker, leaving the Belgian as a rotation option.

When he was given chances, he actually performed fairly well, contrary to popular belief, but his lack of opportunities led to him seeking a move away very quickly, and the club were more than happy to say goodbye.

Although one assist in nine games for Chelsea isn't exactly pretty reading, De Bruyne was still adapting to England, and may have been given time under a different manager.

However, an exit from the club was the route he took, and he's soared ever since. His loan spell at Werder Bremen was immense, and showed a glimpse of what was to come. However, at Wolfsburh he exploded. In just 18 months at the club he contributed to 57 goals and assists in just 73 games.

Manchester City came calling and the rest is history. 75 goals, 113 assists, and 13 trophies later and it's safe to say Man City played a blinder with the brilliant Belgian.

Romelu Lukaku

Although he is now back at the club today, and not quite performing as well as many expected or desire, Romelu Lukaku's initial spell at Chelsea wasn't great either, yet he thrived once he departed Stamford Bridge.

After successful short stints at both West Brom and Everton, Chelsea were expected to keep hold of Lukaku, but his Super Cup penalty shootout decisive miss something seemed to be playing in his mind ever since it happened, and he sought an exit.

He bullied defenders for Everton on a frequent basis, including against Chelsea when he dumped his former side out of the FA Cup with a brace at Goodison Park in 2016, and earned himself a move to Manchester United.

While things weren't quite as rosy in Manchester, he was still a fairly reliable goal-scorer, despite his critics' comments. However, at Inter was where his career took off. Under Antonio Conte, who wanted to sign him at Chelsea before the Belgian forward joined Man Utd, Lukaku looked like a man transformed.

In the shape of his life, Conte's dynamic counter-attacking, systematic style with rehearsed patterns of play suited Lukaku down to a tee, and he frequently found himself in space on the right flank with the ability to drive inside on the break.

The Blues would also have saved themselves a whole heap of money if they'd never sold him in the first place.

Arjen Robben

Although Arjen Robben actually performed fairly well at Chelsea, when he was fit, his injury record tarnished what could have been a fruitful spell.

His talent was there for all to see, and Real Madrid were willing to pay over £30 million to sign him in 2007, but so much more was expected of Robben. The next big thing to come out of the Netherlands, he never quite hit the heights expected of him, even though he contributed more than 40 goals in just over 100 appearances for the club.

However, his exploits at Bayern Munich proved how good he could have been for Chelsea. Although it was his missed penalty in extra-time that helped Chelsea lift the Champions League in 2012, Robben redeemed himself the following year by scoring the winner in the final to help the Bavarians to a historic treble.

In total he won 20 trophies at the Allianz Arena, scoring over 140 goals and assisting over 100 in just 309 games; you knew what you were facing in Robben, but you simply couldn't stop him.

Daniel Sturridge

Daniel Sturridge's career has been marred by injury issues, but on his day he was an elite forward. After joining Chelsea from Man City, much was expected of the Englishman, and although he delivered on occasions, notably 11 Premier League goals during a fairly dismal 2011/12 season that was saved by the Champions League triumph, it wasn't enough to convince the fanbase, pundits or the board to keep him.

His second season at Anfield was by far his best, and although it was extremely overshadowed by Luis Suarez's mesmerising season, Sturridge was excellent in Liverpool's title charge. He netted 22 and assisted 10 in the league; if Suarez wasn't there, Sturridge would've received heaps more praise.

Injuries soon caught up with him, and after that 2013/14 season he never played more than 20 times in a single Premier League season again, but for that one year Sturridge was in peak physical condition and he was a joy to watch.