Juan Sebastian Veron joined Chelsea in the summer of 2003 as one of the first signings of the Abramovich era. Having been disappointing for Manchester United, who had signed him for an English transfer record fee at the time, it was a risky move.
Despite his poor performances in England, both Alex Ferguson and Claudio Ranieri rated him very highly. It looked like they were to be proved right when Veron netted the winner at Anfield on the first game of the 2003-04 Premier League season.
However, injuries soon took their toll and Veron missed out on most of the season. When Jose Mourinho arrived the following season Veron was loaned out to Inter Milan. It was the beginning of some the club's bizarre transfer policies of loaning out experienced players for years on end before eventually selling them for next to nothing. I'm particularly thinking of Hernan Crespo, Yossi Benayoun, Marko Marin and Victor Moses. The latter two haven't been sold yet, and could still play a part for Chelsea, but it wouldn't be at all surprising if both we moved on for small fees.
Veron stayed for two years at Inter Milan, before spending a further year on loan at native club Estudiantes. He eventually departed to them on a free transfer at the beginning of the 2007-2008 season. In all he spent four full seasons as a Chelsea player, of which three were spent on loan! He only made 14 appearances, which equates to just over £1m a game (£15m fee), plus several years of wages for time he spent at other clubs.
Unsurprisingly, you will often find Veron on lists of the most expensive flops of all time! As if that's not embarrassing enough, he usually appears on the list more than once!
No comments:
Post a Comment