Chelsea have always been one of the richest clubs in the Premier League era, but that hasn't stopped them from making some ill-judged decisions in the transfer market.
Under Abramovich's leadership, the club has never been stingy about financial input when it comes to recruiting and has not worried about selling players when they think it won't work.
However, not every decision is made wisely. We reviewed 10 players who didn't impress at Stamford Bridge but were still able to shine elsewhere after the transfer.
Nathan Acker
Acker played for Chelsea for five years but made just seven Premier League appearances during that time.
After loan spells in Redding, Watford and Bournemouth, the defender was sold to the Cherry Army for £20 million in the summer of 2017.
Since then, he has shown his level in the top flight. In three seasons, Acker made 121 appearances under Eddie Howe, scoring 11 goals in the process. After the 2020 relegation, the 26-year-old joined champions Manchester City.
The Netherlands international ended his first season at the Etihad Stadium with Premier League and League Cup winning medals. The championship continues.
Patrick Banford
Banford is one of many players trapped in the Blues' relentless loan system.
During his five years at Stamford Bridge, the striker was loaned six times, which only stimulated him to move on.
When he left permanently in 2017 to join Middlesbrough, he made his decision without thinking about it for a second.
After moving to Leeds United in 2018, he became the focal point of Marcelo Bielsa's crazy attacking squad, helping them return to the Premier League in 2020.
In his first season back in the top flight, he also scored more goals than any Chelsea player.
De Bruyne
By now, you who are familiar with the Premier League must know this story.
Chelsea signed the Belgian from Genk in 2012, but De Bruyne, who moved into Chelsea, did not receive much attention, making only nine appearances in all competitions in Chelsea's half season, and four of them were substitutes, and coach Mourinho at the time bluntly said that he did not like De Bruyne's performance.
In 2014, they sold him to Wolfsburg. In the 2014-2015 season, De Bruyne contributed 10 goals and 21 assists to the Bundesliga title of Assist King, and helped Wolfsburg to second place in the league, successfully qualified for the Champions League, and helped the team win the German Cup.
All that's left is history.
Diarra
Mourinho brought Diarra to West London in 2005 with a clear goal of succeeding Makelele.
However, the midfielder is clearly not willing to wait, having made just 13 Premier League appearances in three seasons. Later, he joined Arsenal Arsene Arsene Arsenal, with occasional flashpoints, but overall it was also unremarkable. Instead, it was a mid-to-bottom team like Portsmouth that made its name and was invited by La Liga giants Real Madrid.
In January 2009, he completed a transfer from Freighton Park to the Bernabeu. He played three seasons in the midfield for Real Madrid, but when Mourinho came to the Spanish team, his role waned again.
Falcau
Colombians have had a bad run with both Manchester United and Chelsea in the Premier League. At Old Trafford, only four goals have been scored in 29 games. As a result, Falcao's situation at Chelsea has not improved much, playing 12 games for the Blues in the whole season, scoring only one goal.
Leaving the Blues back for home side Monaco, fans of Stamford Bridge could only watch in bewilderment as Falcao scored 70 goals in the following three seasons to help the team beat Paris Saint-Germain to the Ligue 1 title.
Sorgen Hazard
With the arrival of older brother Eden Hazard, younger brother Saurgen Hazard also came to Chelsea and signed a four-year contract with the team. But never played for the first team in West London.
Similar to De Bruyne's situation, Eden Hazard began to thrive as soon as he arrived in Germany.
In total, he played five seasons at Mönchengladbach, scoring 46 goals in 182 games. He can now play important in the Borussia Dortmund squad and scored at Euro 2020.
Tariq Lamptai
The energetic youngster has played for Chelsea youth for 11 years but has only made three first-team appearances for the club.
As an excellent representative of Chelsea's academy, his talent has been recognized by the vast majority of people, but Reece James was like a "mountain" in front of him at that time.
Leaving Chelsea doesn't mean running away, he has run out of his own piece of the sky at Brighton.
Salah
In the winter of 2014, Salah landed in the Premier League with a value of 13 million euros after leading Basel to the Blues in the group stage of the Champions League. At that time, the outside world had high hopes for the Egyptian Messi, but after joining the team, he only played for Chelsea a total of 19 times, scoring only two goals, and finally was directly bought out by the Serie A team Roma for 1500 euros, and hurriedly ended his journey in the Blues. In hindsight, it was believed that this was the problem of the then head coach Mourinho, but he himself denied it.
Lukaku
Chelsea threw £17 million for the Anderlecht striker in 2011 but only gave him 10 Premier League starts.
But he attracted everyone's attention during his loan spells at West Brom and Everton, moving permanently to Toffee in 2014 and then to Manchester United three years later.
Before moving to Inter Milan in 2019, he scored 96 Premier League goals during those periods and another 64 in his two seasons with Inter, helping the club to win the Serie A title again in more than a decade.
When the club brought him back with a record £100 million, Lukaku failed again.
Scott Parker
Parker made 572 appearances for club teams during his career, scoring 36 goals. Most notably, in 2004, when Chelsea signed him for £10 million, he was immediately given the enviable task of replacing Lampard or Makelele in Mourinho's side.
It can be said that this did not happen. After the Blues did not win a foothold, he moved to Newcastle after 15 league appearances, and later became a fan favourite in Tottenham, West Ham United and Fulham.
In total, he has made more than 400 appearances for all four clubs.