10 Chelsea Heroes Whose Careers Have Nosedived Since Leaving

7. Jesper Gronkjaer

Some say that without Jesper Gronkjaer, there would be no Champions Leagues, no Premier League titles, no Jose Mourinho - perhaps not even a Chelsea. For it was his winner against Liverpool on the final day of the 02/03 season that bagged the Blues a spot in the following season€™s Champions League, and prompted Roman Abramovich to invest in the club. Such as been the scale of the Russian oligarch€™s outlay, the goal has been worth close to one billion pounds. Had he fluffed his lines that day, or had the curling strike from the edge of the box hit the post, the financially-stricken club could have suffered a similar fate to Leeds United or indeed, faced financial oblivion altogether. Gronkjaer€™s reward for saving the club? Well, he spent one more season at the club before being pushed out to Birmingham City in the summer of 2004 - he may have paved the way for Abramovich, but in doing so he had opened the door to a new wave of multi-million pound star signings. The Danish winger had spent four seasons with the Blues, appearing 119 times in the process, but as soon as the 26 year old left for St. Andrews, he never truly recaptured the form which had made him such a cult hero in west London. He lasted just six months in Birmingham, before finishing the season at Athletico Madrid. His stay in Spain was equally short-lived and lasted just a season at Stuttgart in Germany the following campaign, before spending the remaining five years of his career in his homeland with FC Copenhagen.