Another signing forced upon the team by the owner Roman Abramovich and at £30.1 million it proved to be one of their most expensive mistakes. Despite Andriy Shevchenko's sensational career at AC Milan (scoring 127 goals in 208 league games) the striker could not adapt to life in the Premier League and only managed 22 goals in three years at Stamford Bridge. Shevchenko was not used very often in the starting lineup at Chelsea, and with the appointment of Luiz Felipe Scolari, he was deemed surplus to requirements. Due to this, Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani offered to take Shevchenko back to the San Siro and Shevchenko was loaned back to his old club for the 200809 season. His return to Italy was unsuccessful and he did not manage to score a single goal in 18 league appearances. On 28 August 2009 Shevchenko's ineffective and anti-climatic career at Chelsea came to end as he signed for former club Dynamo Kiev.
NCTJ-accredited football writer with an MA in Sports Journalism. What Culture football editor. Write for the official Newcastle United programme. Former video reporter at North News. Featured and published in the Sunderland Echo, Shields Gazette, Mail Online, The Mirror, The Sun and others.
