5 strange signings Chelsea have made in recent years

A transfer market is a funny place. Often towards the end of the window, things get desperate and clubs end up taking a punt on players they are not fully sure of.

Sometimes, the panic buying pays off, but in many cases, it also backfires spectacularly. In the case of Chelsea Football club, however, some of the buys in the Roman Abramovich era have ranged from the strange to downright bizarre.

Abramovich, in his desire for excellence, has often ensured that managers who fail to win the league, fail to keep their jobs, and the desire for continuity has placed the recruitment strategy down to Directors like Michael Emenelo, who has been much maligned by Chelsea fans among others.

Especially the last couple of Chelsea managers - Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte have voiced concerns over the club's transfer market performance. When you see this list, it would be easy to see the cause of their frustrations.

Some of these signings have looked like extremely strange punts on players that even scouts would be hard pressed to assess, or are players that have flopped miserably at a previous club.

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#5 Michael Hector

Michael Hector is yet another player to be loaned out by Chelsea

Hector began his career at Reading, where he made his debut in 2014. Before his breakthrough in his first team, he had played in the lower reaches of English football for the likes of Bracknell Town, Didcot Town, Havant and Waterlooville. He also had a brief spell at Aberdeen on loan where he was successful.

While all of this is not too bad for a 24-year old defender, there was nothing that he had shown which warranted the Premier League Champions to sign him. Especially when you consider their only competition for his signature at a miserly £4 million was Crystal Palace, who were going into their second consecutive Premier League campaign for the first time in history.

His loan deal back to Reading was solid and he seems a mile away from the Chelsea first team and is now on loan at Hull City. Hector admitted in an interview that he has never really felt like a Chelsea player in 2016.

Hector joined and left Chelsea on deadline day in 2015. Chelsea had been looking for a defender for the first team in 2015 and instead, they got another decent player to join their loan contingent. He has since returned at the end of seasons to Chelsea, only to head back on loan once more.

#4 Papy Djilobodji

Papy was bought by Chelsea but was never really given a shot

It would be harsh on the Senegalese defender to say he was a terrible player at his previous club. He had been a starter for over five seasons at FC Nantes in France, making over a hundred and fifty appearances for Nantes. The only problem though, was that Djilobodji had played three of the last five as of 2015 in the Ligue 2.

He was a decent player in a side that finished 13th and 14th in Ligue 1 in previous seasons. After a summer of going after John Stones, the only defender that Chelsea got was Djilobodji, who made just one League Cup appearance before a move to Sunderland that has oscillated between decent and terrible in 18 league appearances.

He would probably have been served better by a move to a mid-table Premier League side at most. That was not to be, however, and Djilobodji was not even given a proper chance at Chelsea. He complained that Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho had treated him unfairly by not even giving him a shot at the first team.

Djilobodji has now returned to France in a loan deal to Dijon, where he has made four appearances for the club.

#3 Juan Sebastian Veron

Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri shows off new signings Joe Cole and Juan Sebastian Veron

Juan Sebastian Veron was a tremendously gifted player in Italy. In England, however, it all went a bit pear-shaped. Veron arrived as a much-heralded superstar to Manchester United in 2001 for a fee of £24.3 million.

He played 51 times for the Red Devils till 2003. He managed only 7 strikes and many mistakes. He showed very brief glimpses of his ability as he failed to adapt to the English game. However, Claudio Ranieri decided he could see the Veron of old still lurking in the struggling Argentine.

He signed for Chelsea in 2003, for a sizeable £15 million, which even though was a loss for United, represented a sizeable chunk recouped for a signing who failed to make an impact.

Veron traversed through four years at Stamford Bridge, making just 7 league appearances under Ranieri before departing on loan the next season. He returned to Italy with Inter and rediscovered some form but was not consistent.

He was subsequently loaned to Estudientes in Argentina in 2006, and spent the rest of his career in his homeland playing till 2017. Veron recovered his confidence in his homeland and returned to the national team fold, playing the 2010 World Cup for Argentina.

#2 Radamel Falcao

Radamel Falcao had a torrid time in England

Falcao had been a much-coveted property when he had a brilliant spell with Atletico Madrid between 2011-13. He then signed for AS Monaco, who were ready to take the challenge to Paris Saint-Germain.

An ACL injury cut out his first season and he recovered to start the 2014-15 season at Monaco. He was linked with a move away from the club as the new owners wanted to pursue a more sustainable model of investment.

He subsequently joined Manchester United on loan and struggled for both form and fitness. he scored just 4 goals in 29 games. With United clearly not interested in signing someone who looked completely out of depth many times in the season, Chelsea decided they would loan Falcao.

Chelsea fans were reserved about the signing, banking on his reputation as a guarantee despite the recent struggles. That soon changed when Chelsea's season slipped between their fingers after an opening day defeat to Swansea at home.

Falcao was seen as a symbol of Chelsea's incompetence in getting in players to provide competition to Mourinho's title-winning team by the fans.

They got nothing in return as the striker struggled for fitness and form, playing only 10 times and managing a solitary goal before returning to Monaco, where he has rediscovered his confidence and goal-scoring ability.

#1 Alexandre Pato

Pato watching a game from the dugout, as usual

Whoever decided to sign Pato must have played a lot of FIFA. There was simply no explanation as to why Chelsea decided to bring Alexander Pato in on loan from Corinthians, whom he had joined in 2013, after losing form and failing to rediscover his mojo at AC Milan in 2012-13.

Pato had only recently found some semblance of form in Brazil for Sao Paolo, scoring 19 goals in 59 games. He took three months to get fit after joining Chelsea in April. He scored a penalty on debut at a poor Aston Villa side and made just one otherappearance.

Pato's agent was, however, vociferous and claimed that Pato would be interested in moving to Chelsea permanently because he liked life in London.

The London club decided that they had no interest in signing Pato permanently, ending the Brazilian's London adventure. He spent a few days in the country after deciding not to return to Brazil immediately.

He then signed for Villarreal next season and played 14 games, scoring twice before moving to China, where he finally seems to be enjoying his football after a forgettable return to the European stage.