Chelsea’s striker recruitment over the past 15-years has been rather hit and miss. No pun intended.
From the good, Didier Drogba, to the bad, Mateja Kezman, to the ugly, Diego Costa – it’s been a rollercoaster ride.
With Chelsea desperately in need of a new centre-forward, again, the club ought to learn from the mistakes of the past before deciding who’s the best man for the job.
We’ve decided to give them a hand, picking our top ten strikers signed in the Roman Abramovich era. Do you agree with us? Leave a comment, let us know!
10 – Romelu Lukaku
This may seem a strange choice, considering that he only ever made 15 appearances for the club, but it’d be difficult to leave out a player who’s currently one of the hottest strikers on the planet.
He proved his credentials as a world-class frontman at this summer’s World Cup. Maurizio Sarri will no doubt be left ruing his sale.
9 – Michy Batshuayi
Batshuayi’s Chelsea career is yet to kick into full swing, but that’s not to say that he hasn’t made an impact during his time as a Blue.
He gave us one of the most memorable moments of last season with his match-winning goal against Atletico Madrid. He also scored the goal that signed and sealed the Premier League title the season prior.
If we opt against recruiting a new striker, we’d be confident heading into the season with Batshuayi carrying the goal-scoring burden.
8 – Demba Ba
You have to love Demba Ba. If not for his ability as a footballer, then for his (probably unhealthy) obsession with strawberry syrup.
We’ll always remember Ba fondly for his dramatic goal against PSG in the Champions League.
The Telegraph reported at the time that we paid just £7M to sign him from Newcastle. What a bargain!
7 – Salomon Kalou
You may think it harsh for a player who made over 250 appearances for Chelsea to be so low down here, but we wouldn’t consider Kalou’s time here an overwhelming success on a personal level.
He failed to fulfil his full potential, yet showed sporadically the talent that he possessed. A total of 36 Premier League goals over a six-year period is pretty poor, but an eight-trophy haul isn’t bad at all.
6 – Samuel Eto’o
Eto’o is arguably the most under-appreciated striker we signed under Abramovich. On his day, he was superb.
His link-up play, his finishing, age wasn’t on his side but he still possessed some of the qualities that made him one of the world’s best strikers.
If we’d signed him five-years earlier, he could be occupying the number one spot on here.
5 – Fernando Torres
Forget the figure we paid for him, forget the fact that he was previously one of the best strikers on the planet. Torres was a great servant to Chelsea football club, there’s no denying it.
It wasn’t his fault that Chelsea paid what the BBC reported to be a £50M fee to sign him. All he could do was give us everything he had, and he did, consistently, even if he played like he had his boots tied together.
He won the corner which resulted to Dider Drogba’s equaliser in Munich – that and the goal at the Nou Camp is good enough for us.
4 – Hernan Crespo
To this day we rue the fact that Crespo wasn’t here longer. He’s one of the most talented strikers Chelsea have ever had the pleasure of housing.
Kicking things off with that goal against Wigan, Crespo began as he meant to carry on. He came, he scored, and he conquered, winning the Premier League in the only season he ever spent in England.
If we could turn back time, we’d make sure things ended differently…
3 – Nicolas Anelka
Anelka was fielded as a right-winger for much of his time as a Blue, but he ranks highly in our list of strikers largely due to his Premier League Golden Boot win in 2008/09.
He pipped Cristiano Ronaldo to the post to win the award, even though he scored only 19 goals in the league!
The man had ice running through his veins. If only he could pass that attribute onto Alvaro Morata…
2 – Diego Costa
It’d be a shame for Diego Costa to be remembered for his unprofessional conduct towards the end of his Chelsea career. He was superb for us.
Costa was influential in Premier League title triumphs in 2014/15 and 2016/17. He left his mark on both the English game and Martin Skrtel’s ankle.
If there’s another player like Costa out there, we have to make sure we get him. Warriors like him have a connection with the fans like no other.
1 – Didier Drogba
Who else? The king. The greatest striker we’ve ever had, and one of the best ever to grace the Premier League.
Drogba was the man for the big occasion. He wasn’t phased by anything. He stepped up to the mark and delivered for his team.
His 2009/10 campaign will probably never be topped by a striker playing in a Chelsea shirt. He was unplayable, scoring 29 goals in 32 league games.
Not to mention what he did in Munich…
Do you agree with our top ten? Let us know both in the comments and on Twitter @Blues4life_