Jiri Jarosik was signed to bring a bit of power to Chelsea's midfield. As a youngster, the Czech enjoyed an extremely successful start to his career with Sparta Prague, where he scored 20 goals in 101 appearances. At 6ft 5, he had the presence and strength to dominate the middle of the field both aerially and on the ground, using his long stride to push his team forward after winning the ball. He left Prague for CSKA Moscow for $3.5 million, a record fee for a Russian club at the time and no doubt one of many factors which caught the watchful eyes of Chelsea's scouting team. Two years later, he was picked up by Jose Mourinho's Blues at a cost of £3 million, an inexpensive buy but one which was believed would provide a perfect middle man between Claude Makelele's total focus on defence and Frank Lampard's tendency to make expertly timed runs forward. He was expected to be a replacement for playmaker Tiago Mendes, an early Mourinho signing who, barring one thunderbolt against Manchester United, was solid but never truly hit his stride in the Premier League. Unfortunately, the situation proved even worse for Jarosik, who struggled greatly with the step-up from Russian football and looked consistently off the pace, technically ropey and poor in his decision making. Even at £3 million, Jarosik proved something of a disaster and was first shipped off on loan to Birmingham, then a permanent deal to Celtic, where he enjoyed slightly greater success over two years. With a total of just 20 appearances to his name in Chelsea blue, most of them dreadful, Jarosik must go down as one of the most misjudged signings of the Abramovich era and one of Mourinho's all-time worst.
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.
