KEPA ARRIZABALAGA has endured another campaign to forget at Chelsea.
The Spaniard, 26-year-old has lost his place in the side under Frank Lampard to new boy Edouard Mendy.
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With the Spaniard’s future up in the air, we take a look at Chelsea’s all-time flop XI, with Kepa between the sticks…
GOALKEEPER – Kepa Arrizabalaga
KEPA joined Chelsea in a club-record £71.6m in the summer of 2018 – also a world-record fee for a goalkeeper.
But the Spaniard has never fully settled at the Blues and has looked well out of his depth, making howler after howler.
His refusal to be taken off for penalty-specialist Willy Caballero in the 2019 Carabao Cup final was another black mark on his Chelsea record.
The Blues went on to lose the shootout 4-3 at the expense of Manchester City.
RIGHT-BACK – Juan Cuadrado
THE Colombian joined Chelsea in 2015 from Fiorentina for £26.8m with a reputation for being an exciting, attacking winger.
But he played just 13 times in the league and failed to adapt to life in the Premier League.
He would go on to spent 18 months of his two-year stint on loan at Juventus.
Cuadrado joined Juve permanently in the summer of 2017 – where he has since been converted to a right-back.
CENTRE-BACK – Tal Ben-Haim
AFTER three solid years at Bolton, then-Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho made a surprise move for the Israel star in 2008.
However, Ben-Haim played just 13 Premier League games as back-up to John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho.
After falling out with Mourinho’s successor, Avram Grant, over a lack of playing time, Ben-Haim was fined £80,000 and later sold to Man City.
CENTRE-BACK – Papy Djilobodji
AFTER five seasons at Nantes – and 171 league appearances – Chelsea signed Djilobodji for £3m in 2015.
However, despite arrival with a decent reputation, the Senegal star rotted on the bench – failing to play a single Premier League game.
Djilobodji spent just six months at Stamford Bridge before being loaned out to Werder Bremen in January 2016 with just one League Cup game against Walsall under his belt.
The centre-back joined Sunderland that summer, where he would spend just one season before heading back to France.
LEFT-BACK – Baba Rahman
ANOTHER 2015 buy, Rahman has enjoyed little more success than Djilobodji at Chelsea.
Still somehow on the club’s books, Rahman has only been at Stamford Bridge during his first season, in which he made 15 Premier League appearances.
Since then, he has spent three years on loan at Schalke, one year at Reims and one season at Mallorca.
Rahman – who cost Chelsea £21.7m – is yet to be loaned out this summer and is expected to be sold.
CENTRE-MID – Juan Sebastian Veron
IN 2001, Veron became the most-expensive player on the planet when he joined Manchester United for a £28.1m fee.
After two sub-par seasons, the Argentine legend – who starred at Lazio and Parma before heading to England – moved to Chelsea for half that fee.
He would play just seven times in the Premier League in FOUR seasons, in which he was joined back to Inter and then Estudiantes.
Veron joined the Argentine side – where he kicked off his career – permanently in 2007.
CENTRE-MID – Tiemoue Bakayoko
AFTER helping Monaco overthrow Paris Saint-Germain to become Ligue 1 champions, Chelsea splashed out to the tune of £40m to sign Bakayoko in 2017.
However, after 29 disappointing matches in his debut season, the Frenchman was shipped off on loan to AC Milan and then back to Monaco.
Bakayoko is now set to be sold this summer for half of the £40m Chelsea paid three years ago.
CENTRE-MID – Danny Drinkwater
ANOTHER central midfielder signed after helping his side to a surprise league triumph, Chelsea brought in Drinkwater from Leicester in a £35m deal a year after the Foxes’ 2015-16 heroics.
Drinkwater had spent five impressive years at the King Power Stadium, making over 200 appearances in all competitions.
But the three-cap England midfielder has played just 12 times in the Premier League for the Blues in his three seasons at Stamford Bridge.
In that time he’s been loaned to Burnley and Aston Villa – where he made a combined five Premier League appearances.
Since 2019, Drinkwater’s life has been mired in controversy after being charged with drink-driving and involved in a nightclub brawl in Manchester which left him with ankle ligament damage.
Drinkwater has not been allocated a squad number for the 2020-21 season and is likely to be sold.
FORWARD – Andriy Shevchenko
THE Ukrainian striker was an undoubted star at AC Milan earlier in his career.
So it’s little wonder the club paid £30.8m to sign him in 2005.
But Shevchenko scored just nine times in three years in the Premier League.
Chelsea even paid £190,000 a week for the luxury…
FORWARD – Fernando Torres
THE Blues defined the term “panic buy” when they brought in Torres from Liverpool in January 2011.
Chelsea spent £50m on the former Reds star, who had spent months struggling for form and suffering from a spate of injuries.
In four years, the Spaniard scored just 20 Premier League goals in 110 games.
As well as costing £50m, the Blues were paying Torres £150,000 a week…
FORWARD – Alvaro Morata
HAVING starred at Juventus – and then Real Madrid – Chelsea splashed out £65m to sign Morata in 2017.
But it quickly became clear Morata was struggling to adapt to the Premier League, scoring just 16 times in 47 Premier League games.
Morata was loaned to Atletico Madrid last season, where he impressed another to make the move permanent this summer, becoming just the latest in a long line of big-money flops to be shown the door.
Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.sportingexcitement.com/football/premier-league/mesut-ozil-names-dream-five-a-side-team-and-includes-man-utd-hero-marcus-rashford-but-no-arsenal-players
