In the summer of 2004, Chelsea appointed Jose Mourinho and completed arguably their defining signing of the Premier League era with a £24million deal for Didier Drogba.
Drogba scored 164 goals across two spells at Chelsea and his time at Stamford Bridge coincides with the most successful period in the club’s history.
But he wasn’t the only signing at Chelsea that summer, and we’ve taken a closer look at the other nine players the Blues bought ahead of the 2004-05 season.
Paulo Ferreira
After helping Jose Mourinho win the Treble with Porto in 2003-04, Ferreira became the manager’s first signing at Chelsea.
The right-back was an unspectacular but consistent performer at Stamford Bridge and won 11 major honours over a nine-year period, including three Premier League titles, the Europa League and the Champions League.
“The boy never gets injured, which means he consistently plays around 60 games a season, no problem,” Mourinho said of the player. “Paulo will never get a mark of 10 out of 10 in a game or even nine, but neither will he ever get below a seven or an eight.”
Petr Cech
He did alright.
READ: Ranking the 21 goalkeepers to appear for Chelsea in the Premier League
Mateja Kezman
Having scored 129 goals in four years at PSV Eindhoven, expectations were high when Kezman completed a £5.3million move to Chelsea.
The striker failed to justify the hype, scoring just four Premier League goals in his only season at the club before leaving for Atletico Madrid.
However, he did help Jose Mourinho win his first trophy in English football by notching the winner in the 2005 League Cup final win over Liverpool.
“Chelsea was the best thing in my career,” Kezman told Sportske in 2011. “That was the climax of my career, for sure. Living and playing in London was something that I will never forget.
“I don’t know if I made a mistake because I moved away so quickly. Maybe I do and maybe I don’t regret it, but I always believe in my decisions. But the transfer to Chelsea made my dreams come true.”
Arjen Robben
Robben joined Chelsea along with PSV team-mate Kezman, and it’s fair to say the Dutchman faired slightly better during his time at Stamford Bridge.
Despite being plagued by injury problems, he played an integral role in Mourinho’s first successful Chelsea side, winning back-to-back Premier League titles.
Alongside Damien Duff, the winger continued to entertain the fans at Stamford Bridge before being…
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