This evening it was announced that Ukrainian flop, Andriy Shevchenko, is leaving Chelsea to go back to AC Milan.
Most Chelsea fans will be asking why it has taken so long for Shevchenko to get the boot. There were questions asked about his age and suitability to English football when he was bought two years ago. Reportedly the transfer was heavily influenced by Roman Abramovich.
One good point for Chelsea, that came from the acquisition of Shevchenko, was that it spurred on Didier Drogba to score 33 goals in Shevchenko’s debut season, and by doing so he become the first Chelsea player since Kerry Dixon to pass the 30 goal mark. But apart from that it has been a complete waste of money for both Abramovich and Chelsea.
Shevchenko is yet another player who has been bought on reputation alone, without considering the possibility that he might not fit in to English football. Every club is entitled to make one huge mistake (for example, Manchester United’s was Juan Sebastian Veron), but Chelsea, with their pockets full of Russian oil money, have continued to buy lots of players that they don’t need, and that don’t suit English football.
Although the London club have said Shevchenko is leaving they have not yet announced how much they are selling him for, however we can assume that they will have lost at least £10 million. For any normal club, a mistake that lost them so much money would have severely compromised them in the transfer market for years to come, however with Abramovich at the helm they have an unfair advantage over all other English clubs.
Moving on from the damage Shevchenko has done to Chelsea’s bank account, the move will have cost him personally; he has a wife and two sons for whom the move to England, and then back to Milan, has been completely unfair.
Oh yes, almost forgot; this is my first of hopefully many posts on EPL Talk. If you want want to catch my blog more regularly I will be posting every Sunday night, and whenever there is a big story that catches my attention.
