3 Starlets in the past decade who Chelsea shouldn’t have sold

Ever since Roman Abramovich took ownership of Chelsea, there has been a change in the way the club is run. A lot of success has followed.

Despite that, Chelsea have a rather weird way of dealing with players. Over the years, they have stockpiled the best young players and have sent them out on loan. Yet, only a handful of them have gone on to wear the blue. Some of these stars were let go at an early stage but they found tremendous success elsewhere. Below we take a look at three such players.

1. Mohamed Salah

Salah was an unknown commodity in football when he joined Chelsea back in 2014. He spent only a year at Chelsea before being loaned out to Fiorentina and then AS Roma. Roma made his transfer permanent. Salah was slowly starting to gain prominence.

When Liverpool brought him back to England in 2017, not a lot of people were expecting him to do well. He proved them wrong in spectacular ways. A big part of Liverpool’s continental and domestic dominance. Salah has 140 goal contributions in 158 matches for the Reds (source – Transfermarkt).

2. Kevin De Bruyne

Quite how Chelsea managed to let go of De Bruyne still baffles the footballing fraternity. Signed as a relatively young player from Genk in 2012, the Belgian was still in his developmental phase. After two loan spells, he was sold to VfL Wolfsburg for just £18m. Within one and half seasons, he was back in England as Manchester City went for him.

The impact he’s had on City is indescribable. Not only has he taken the team to greater heights, but he has also developed into one of the best central midfielders in the world. An eye for a pass that would shame the best of marksmen and a knack for the occasional wonder goal. Chelsea fans can point a finger or two at Jose Mourinho for not being patient enough with him.

3. Romelu Lukaku

It’s still hard to believe that Lukaku is just 27 given how long he has been around for. The burly striker came to Chelsea after impressing for Anderlecht. He was loaned out twice and despite good performances on loan, Chelsea ended up selling him to Everton.

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The Belgian impressed at Goodison Park and at Old Trafford when he moved again. Now at Inter Milan, Lukaku is still on his scoring spree, while Chelsea haven’t found a reliable striker since Diego Costa. A shame that Lukaku only featured 15 times for the Blues.