Andriy Shevchenko arrived at Chelsea with a massive reputation. And he lived up to it — for exactly one-half of the 2006 Community Shield.
“Andriy has always been my first choice for Chelsea since I arrived.”
That was the party line, and Jose Mourinho would stick with it for a whole seven years.
The “Andriy” in question was the Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko, who Chelsea signed in the summer of 2006 for a British record fee of £30million.
Shevchenko was 29 at the time, but Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich had been pursuing him since buying the club in 2003.
Each summer, AC Milan would issue a hands-off warning, forcing Chelsea towards alternatives like Hernan Crespo and Adrian Mutu.
So when the Ukrainian finally arrived, it felt momentous.
Although approaching his twilight years, Shevchenko had still been posting good numbers at Milan and was, at that point, the all-time leading goalscorer in the Champions League.
And if Chelsea could sign him, there was surely no player beyond their reach.
“Before it was not possible,” Mourinho explained. “Now it is for real. For him to leave Milan for Chelsea is a big statement about where Chelsea is.”
Unfortunately for Mourinho, his words would prove accurate in a way he probably hadn’t meant.
Yes, this was a “statement” signing, but in ways both good and bad.
Until this point, Chelsea seemed to prefer large numbers of mid-priced signings over premium-priced Galacticos.
They were clearly outspending their rivals in the Premier League — in 2003–04, they shelled out £121million, dwarfing Man United’s £40million — but they had only broken the £20million mark on a handful of individual players: Didier Drogba, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Michael Essien.
Shevchenko’s arrival changed that.
It was the first time Chelsea had broken the British transfer record since 1947, when they had bought striker Tommy Lawton for £20,000, and with this new extravagance came a new level of scrutiny.
Things didn’t go well…
Shield of dreams
Or, more accurately, they went well for 45 minutes.
Like many superstar signings of the Premier League era, Shevchenko made his debut in the Community Shield, that uniquely half-competitive event that takes place a week before the Premier League begins.
On 13 August 2006, opponents Liverpool were giving debuts to their own, somewhat less glamorous, new signings: Jermaine Pennant, Craig Bellamy and Fabio Aurelio. Chelsea, for their part, put Shevchenko straight…
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