Chelsea’s deadline day history: Zeroes, few heroes, only one Papy
6. Danny Drinkwater (Vishnu Raj)
Arrive: 31 August 2017, Depart: ?
Chelsea appearances: 23
Chelsea were looking for an experienced midfielder after Nemanja Matic moved to Manchester United, but every attempt to sign players ended in failure. Frustration was building around Chelsea’s inability to attract targets.
However, Chelsea were able to sign on the deadline day a midfielder who had experience winning the Premier League. But unfortunately that was it. Despite his talents, Danny Drinkwater is not (yet?) a player who is on Chelsea’s level.
As was the case with most signings of 2017/18 season, Danny Drinkwater arrived on the back of a big injury. As a result, he did not have any preseason. It was November before he was fit and then ready to play under Antonio Conte. Then before he could improve and justify his transfer, he was injured yet again. He failed to feature much after returning from the injury.
The signing was never Drinkwater’s mistake. He did what any player would do: he signed when a top club came for him.
That Liverpool were able to sign Mohamed Salah for £36 million and Chelsea had to sign an injured player for £35 million on same deadline day shows how poor Chelsea were in dealing with transfers. Drinkwater’s signing was nothing but a panic buy and poor attempt to hide the board’s impotence.
7. Raul Meireles (Kevin Peacock)
Arrive: 31 August 2011, Depart: 3 September 2012
Chelsea appearances: 48
Raul Meireles joined Chelsea from one of their bitterest rivals of the time, Liverpool. He had handed in a transfer request shortly after the 2011/12 season had begun and what a decision that turned out to be. His motivation for leaving the Reds after just one season was simply Chelsea’s stellar manager of the time, Andre Villas-Boas.
The two had worked together briefly at Porto and Meireles believed it was an opportunity too good to miss. He certainly picked a good year to be at Stamford Bridge, missing out on Europa League failure with Liverpool in exchange for Champions League glory with Chelsea (minus Villas-Boas). Shortly after he arrived in SW6 he said “The people think that I wanted to leave [Liverpool] and it is only because Chelsea wanted me. For Andre to want me, that is why I wanted to go.”
With Michael Essien suffering a cruciate ligament injury in early pre-season, Chelsea were keen to bring in a replacement. As this was Chelsea, though, they spent the summer chasing Luka Modric. A number of bids were turned down for the Croat, the last one being £40 million on deadline day. When that was rejected, Chelsea turned their attention to the Portuguese midfielder, who joined for a fee in the region of £12 million. It’s a familiar tale still.
Like his time with Liverpool, Meireles’ Chelsea career was short. He played just over one season with each. Of course, with Liverpool, he won nothing. With Chelsea, he played the final 15 minutes of a 2-1 win over his former club in the 2012 FA Cup final and picked up a Champions League Winner’s medal a few days later (although he missed the game, having picked up a yellow card in the semi-final against Barcelona).
He scored six goals for Chelsea. The goal he’ll be most remembered for was in that run to European glory, securing the semi-final spot and seeing off Benfica in the process.