Chelsea’s worst XI of the 21st Century includes Shevchenko, Veron and THREE of Tuchel’s current squad

CHELSEA shot to European prominence following the arrival of Roman Abramovich shortly after the turn of the century.

The Blues have won five Premier League titles and two Champions League crowns in the last 17 years, a sensational return for the club.

However, they have still made seriously poor signings over the past two decades, with Chelsea fan Simon Phillips highlighting what he believes is the worst team made up of those flops.

And incredibly, three of them are still Chelsea players.

GK - Kepa Arrizabalaga

It feels harsh putting Kepa in here, but you really don't have an option given how much the club spent on him and the fact he is already No2 choice while losing his place in the Spain squad.

Look, he isn't a bad keeper at all, but he has been an absolutely disastrous signing for Chelsea in a business sense.

The club invested £71million on him and they will get nowhere near that fee back when they inevitably sell him because while Edouard Mendy is at Chelsea, Kepa is not going to get a look in.

It's a sad story because he's never complained and he's stayed professional when called upon especially during the Africa Cup of Nations, you cannot doubt that.

He has also suffered with confidence, but when asked to name a starting Xl with some of the worst players Kepa has to be in goal.

I'm not going to stick a second or third choice keeper in here, because they are literally bought as backup options, Kepa was bought as our 'world class' No1 stopper for many years to come, and it's failed miserably.

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RB - Khalid Boulahrouz

Costing Chelsea £8m, but making just 13 league appearances in two seasons, there was no way this Dutchman was ever going to be a regular for Chelsea.

Perhaps he was just cursed by being given the Chelsea No9 shirt, which was entirely odd.

CB - Papy Djilobodji

This guy perhaps goes down as Chelsea's worst and most random signing of all-time.

Whoever scouted him should have been sacked on the spot, the poor lad wasn't even Championship quality let alone Premier League quality.

He left Chelsea having only made one very short appearance as a sub.

Djilobodji is now at Gaziantep in Turkey.

CB - Winston Bogarde

Bogarde stayed at Chelsea for four years, collecting his £40k-a-week wages but only made 12 appearances.

This one was nothing short of expensive and disastrous.

Bogarde is probably one of the most disliked Chelsea players of all time to be honest, and he certainly liked to bring the drama.

LB - Asier Del Horno

The left-back cost us £8m and only had one season at the club.

Famed for being sent off for hacking down Lionel Messi in the Champions League, and the rest is history, so was he.

CM - Tiemoue Bakayoko

Again, it feels harsh putting Bakayoko in here but you cannot ignore what another waste of money he was for Chelsea.

He's been on Chelsea's wage bill since 2017 and as I type, he is still no closer to joining a new team on a permanent deal. 

He's proven to be a fairly good player, but he never made it at Chelsea and never will unfortunately.

This one hurt more because again, he was supposed to be the next big thing in midfield following his heroics at Monaco.

CM - Danny Drinkwater

An absolute waste of £35m and a transfer that continues to anger Chelsea fans now.

It really looks like Drinkwater will be staying on our wage bill until his contract expires - he is currently on loan at Reading.

The ex-Manchester United youngster will also go down as one of the worst transfers Chelsea have ever made, behind Djilobodji. 

He isn't a bad player, and we saw that at Leicester, but what Chelsea were doing thinking he would be good enough for a team of our calibre I have no idea.

CM - Juan Sebastian Veron

I remember being excited when Chelsea paid £15m to sign Veron.

I always thought he was a class player and could still prove himself in the Premier League.

However, it was a disaster and ended up costing Chelsea £1m per appearance for Veron, as he only played 15 times for us.

ST - Marko Marin

We were sold 'The German Messi' story when he arrived at the club, but unfortunately he proved that he wasn't even worthy to tie Messi's boots.

This lad is still only 32 years old and currently playing in Hungary.

We were sold the dream, but in reality we got a measly six league appearances out of Marin.

ST - Andriy Shevchenko

Great manager, and a great striker, but just not for Chelsea.

He signed for a big fee at the time, £30m, but only managed to return nine league goals for Chelsea's investment, which can be nothing less than disastrous.

The Chelsea striker curse? Maybe.

ST - Alvaro Morata

Another man who was definitely hit by the Chelsea striker curse was Alvaro Morata.

I felt sorry for him at times, but in the end he was one of the most frustrating players I have ever watched play for the club.

Blamed everyone and everything else other than himself, missed sitter after sitter, and cost an absolute bomb at £60m, which was a club-record fee at the time.

The silver lining of course is that we got £50m back for him when we eventually did sell him, but still, a disastrous spell at Chelsea for him.

Twitter: @siphillipssport