Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
ABRAMOVICH’S BEST CHELSEA SIGNINGS
AFTER taking over Chelsea in 2003, Roman Abramovich transformed the club from Premier League also-rans into one of the best in England and Europe. The Russian-born billionaire this week announced that he would be selling the club.
The following are some of the best signings that he made during his reign at Stamford Bridge.
1. Claude Makelele
Best remembered for being the engine of the first golden generation French national team in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Chelsea signed Makelele in 2003 when some considered him done.
In five years at Stamford Bridge, Makelele was a first-team regular, helping the Blues win two Premier League titles and two League Cups.
2. Petr Cech
Cech was signed as an unknown player in 2004 and the rest was history. He has come to be widely regarded as the best goalkeeper to have played in the Premier League era. In more than a decade at Stamford Bridge, Cech helped the club to win four Premier League titles and played a starring role in their 2011/12 Champions League triumph.
After losing his starting spot to Thibaut Courtois, Cech joined Arsenal in 2015. However, he was so highly regarded that he is one of the only players who played for two arch rivals and still commanded respect from both clubs.
Even though past his prime by the time he joined the Gunners, Cech was still one of their best players for three years before losing his place to Bernd Leno and retiring the following year.
3. Ashley Cole
Widely regarded as the greatest English left back ever, Cole was signed from Arsenal in 2006. Cole was a standout performer for the Blues in his eight years with them and it’s hard to believe that he won only one Premier League title with them.
After he left Chelsea to join Roma in 2014, Chelsea have still not found a replacement for the former 107 times capped England international.
4. Cesar Azpilicueta
Azpilicueta joined the Blues in 2012 as an unknown from Marseille. Not many fans really cared when he joined as it was for a bargain fee of £7 million.
Azpilicueta is an underrated player and one of his best qualities is his versatility when it comes to playing across the backline, combined with his professionalism.
5. N’Golo Kante
Chelsea were not the ones that identified Kante from obscurity. It was Leicester City. Chelsea still did purchase him in 2016 for a cheap fee of £32 million by today’s standards.
Kante is a generational great who is the modern day Makelele. He finished fifth in the most recent edition of the Ballon d’Or awards and was the man of the match in Chelsea’s FA Cup final and semi-final.
6. Eden Hazard
Hazard left Chelsea to take his career to the next level by joining Real Madrid in 2019. He very likely regrets the move as Chelsea have since won the Champions League which was the trophy he had hoped to win with Madrid.
Nevertheless, Hazard was devastatingly good during his seven-year spell with Chelsea and is worthy of being called a modern day legend of the club.