The signing of Romelu Lukaku for £100m will always be remembered as Chelsea’s biggest mistake of the summer of 2021.
But a player they elected not to sign might end up hurting them just as much in the long term.
After watching Aurelien Tchouameni for a long time, Chelsea bottled it at the last minute and went for the experience of Saul Niguez on loan.
Not only did that loan not work out, it also cost Chelsea Tchouameni, who went on to join Real Madrid a year later. He already looks exceptionally good in Carlo Ancelotti’s team.
According to Spanish newspaper Sport, Chelsea owner Todd Boehly was as puzzled as the rest of us as to what the previous operators were thinking.
It’s easy to say in hindsight of course – but plenty of us were saying it at the time too. The contrast between the caution on not signing Tchouameni and the carelessness of spending £100m on Lukaku is just so inconsistent.
