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#3 Alexey Smertin
Next up, we have former Russian captain, Alexei Smertin - another signing which was more influenced by Abramovich than the Chelsea manager.
The club from London shelled out £3.5 million to acquire his services from CSKA Moscow, but then-Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri loaned out the Russian just a few months later. The midfielder played a bit-part role in Chelsea's 2004/05 PL-winning season under Mourinho, but featured in just 16 games for the West Londoners. He managed to get on the scoresheet once - in a Champions League encounter against Porto.
Smertin wasn't entirely to blame for his underwhelming three-seasons in England. Chelsea signed the midfielder at a time when they had the likes of Lampard, Makelele and Scott Parker operating in his preferred position, and it was no surprise that Smertin failed to make a breakthrough. The Russian departed Stamford Bridge in 2006, and retired from the game a year later.
#2 Juan Sebastian Veron
After a disappointing spell at Old Trafford, Chelsea made the bold move of signing the Argentine in a £14 million deal. Despite several shreds of evidence surrounding Veron's inadequacy of coping up with the physicality of Premier League football, Chelsea took a gamble on the midfielder.
Mourinho favors a strong player in the center of midfield, and Veron failed to impress the Portuguese - hindered by several injuries. He spent most of his four years as a Chelsea player on loan - first at Inter Milan for a two-year spell followed by a year at Argentine club Estudiantes. The Argentine's limited time at Stamford Bridge yielded 14 appearances - 6 from the bench.
Veron enjoyed a dream start to his Chelsea career, scoring the opener in the Blues' 2-1 victory over Liverpool. He managed just a solitary goal and an assist in his brief time since. However, in the words of Sir Alex, "[Verón] is a f*****g great player. And you're all f*****g idiots."
#1 Papy Djilobodji
Taking pole position is the Senegalese, who had a short-lived career of 59 seconds at Chelsea. After failing to land their main defensive targets - John Stones and Raphael Varane, the Blues made a £4million panic buy.
Jose Mourinho admitted he had never heard of the former Nantes defender, and didn't end up being a fan of his footballing acumen either. A 59-second substitute appearance in added time of a FA Cup tie against Walsall was the most we saw of Papy in a Chelsea shirt. The Senegalese was soon sent out on loan to German outfit Werder Bremer, where he made 14 appearances and scored two goals in the one year at Germany.
While panic buys are pretty standard in the world of top football clubs with big pockets and often turn out unremarkable, this transfer takes the cake. There was no need for Chelsea to make this signing, and after having signed the defender, the treatment meted out to him was probably a bit harsh.
