With Chelsea’s vast spending power over the course of the Roman Abramovich era, one might think they’d be capable of securing all of their targets. That, however, could not be further from the truth.
There have been plenty of times that Chelsea have gone for top players, but those players, for whatever reason, have chosen to stay put or go elsewhere.
We’ve taken a look back at some of the biggest names who nearly ended up at Stamford Bridge… and who ended up there in their stead.
Sergio Aguero
Back in 2009, having ceded three straight Premier League titles to Manchester United, Chelsea needed to refresh their frontline.
Sergio Aguero was one of their main targets after the striker helped Atletico Madrid to Europa League glory, and a fee was even agreed for the 21-year-old.
However, after Aguero’s wage demands didn’t match with what Chelsea wanted to pay, the Argentine stayed in Madrid for two more years before moving to Manchester City in 2011.
Ironically, Chelsea’s one attacking signing that summer came from City, with Daniel Sturridge arriving on the cheap.
Robinho
City had got one over on Chelsea in 2008, too, signing Robinho following their cash injection after it had looked for much of the summer as though the Brazilian was on his way to Stamford Bridge.
Real Madrid had seemingly named their price, and the Blues were thought to have prioritised the Brazilian after former Selecao head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari replaced Avram Grant in the dugout.
It would end up being a quiet deadline day for the club, though, and the closest they got to an attacking recruit was the January loan of Ricardo Quaresma, who hardly set Stamford Bridge alight.
Dani Alves
If you’re wondering how close Alves was to moving to Chelsea, we even reached the “will become their player today” stage of the newspaper discourse.
The move was thought to be hours away in 2007, when the Brazilian was ready to leave Sevilla and had seemingly chosen the Blues ahead of Real…
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