Not too long after my first list was published, I received a text asking why Shevchenko hadn't been included. After all, he arrived at vast expense, with his £30.8 million transfer breaking the record for the highest amount paid for a single player by a British club. He was reportedly a long-term target for Roman Abramovich, who was friends with the Ukrainian striker and had reportedly made an astonishing bid of 75 million PLUS Hernan Crespo for the striker the previous season, with now former chief executive Peter Kenyon confirming him as the type of player Chelsea were looking to sign. They finally got their man in 2008 after the Ukranian put in a transfer request. Word on the street was that Mourinho had not been involved in the transfer and was unimpressed at having to accomodate the 30-year old in his squad. Nevertheless, Shevchenko was still considered one of the deadliest strikers on the planet despite his age, having scored 28 goals the preceding season. As with Veron, things got off to a good start with him scoring a real poacher's effort in an otherwise underwhelming 2-1 loss to Liverpool in the Community Shield. His first Premier League goal didn't take too long in arriving either, despite once again proving Chelsea's only goal in a 2-1 defeat, this time to Middlesbrough. Things went downhill from there as despite showing a truly outstanding work rate, he never looked a good fit for Mourinho's tactics and ultimately lost his place, an act of defiance from the manager which was rumoured to be one of the reasons for the growing discord between he and Roman Abramovich. Mourinho left the following season but with questions still lingering about the state of Shevchenko's fitness, the goals never came. The club agreed to loan him back to Milan, where despite his heroic status, he failed to score in eighteen league appearances. In 2009, he left permanently for Dinamo Kyiv, retiring three years later at the club where his incredible career had begun. No-one could deny that Shevchenko put in an enormous amount of effort at Chelsea, a fact which ensured supporters always applauded him even while he struggled to find the net. As a vanity signing by Abramovich, forced on a manager who didn't want him and placed in a system he didn't fit, it was never likely to end well. Personally, though, I'd put this disastrous transfer squarely on the club rather than the player.
28-year old English writer with a borderline obsessive passion for films, videogames, Chelsea FC, incomprehensible words and indefensible puns. Follow me on Twitter if you like infrequent outbursts of absolute drivel.
