On the back of a sudden blitz, Kalidou Koulibaly landed in West London to complete his switch to Chelsea, leaving behind a heartbroken fanbase in Napoli. The Senegalese has been one of the best defenders in Europe over the last years, but he won’t be the first to leave the Italian peninsula behind to join the Blues. In fact the history of Chelsea is filled with Serie A stars who made the jump to the Stamford Bridge after making a name for themselves in Calcio, with some of them finding great success in the Premier League, while others end up ruing the day the left Italy.
While Gianfranco Zola may be the most famous amongst them, we’ll only focus on the players who completed a transfer from Italian to Chelsea since the turn of the new millennium, and rank them based on the success they found during their time at Cobham.
11- Adrian Mutu
With a number of flops present on the list, Adrian Mutu certainly wasn’t be the worst on the pitch. The Romanian was one of the first signings of the Roman Abramovich era, completing a switch from Parma in 2003.
The enigmatic talent enjoyed a decent first campaign in the Premier League under the tutelage of Claudio Ranieri, but he lands bottom of the table due to the circumstances that accompanied his exit.
Mutu was banned from football due after testing positive for cocaine, subsequently leaving Chelsea on a sour note, before resuming his Serie A experience at Juventus.
10- Andriy Shevchenko
Despite having Didier Drogba among their ranks, the English giants decided to splash the cash on Abramovich’s good friend, Andriy Shevchenko.
Nonetheless, the Milan legend was already heading towards the slump, and he spectacularly failed to justify his 50M price tag (which was an enormous sum during the day).
The Ukrainian bomber eventually returned for a second spell at the San Siro two years following his exit, but his career was beyond saving at that point.
9- Juan Cuadrado
During José Mourinho’s second tenure at Chelsea, several stars came and went by without leaving a mark, and of them was Juan Cuadrado.
The Colombian signed for the Londoners in February 2015 on the back of an impressive stint at Fiorentina, only to leave the Bridge a few months later when Juventus offered him the chance to play in Italy once again.
8- Gonzalo Higuain
The 2018/19 season was surely a bizarre one for Gonzalo Higuain. It all started with the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo which pushed him towards Milan. However, his time with the Rossoneri was joyless, so when Maurizio Sarri called, he gladly jumped ship in the middle of the campaign.
However, the Argentine only found the back of the net on five occasions in 18 total appearances at Chelsea, before rejoining the Bianconeri following the expiry of his loan stint.
7- Romelu Lukaku
Well, this one hasn’t completely unfolded just yet, as Romelu Lukaku remains a Chelsea player despite recently returning to Inter on loan.
Nevertheless, his previous campaign turned out to be a miserable one, as Thomas Tuchel relegated him to the bench after struggling to adapt to his tactical system, and the Belgian made things even worse by publicly announcing how sad he is at Chelsea and making a come-and-get-me plea to the Nerazzurri.
But to his credit, the manoeuvre ultimately worked out.
6- Hernan Crespo
As evidenced by the names on the list, Chelsea have a knack for signing Serie A strikers. But unfortunately for them, it rarely works out to the best.
For his part, Hernan Crespo spent two campaigns with the EPL giants, scoring 25 goals in 72 appearances. Perhaps not a disastrous tally, but it’s a far cry from the stats he registered during his memorable spells at Parma and Lazio.
Inevitably, the Argentine packed his bags and returned to the Italian peninsula, similarly to the previous cases mentioned above.
5- Davide Zappacosta
Although he wasn’t exactly a bona fide star at the time, Davide Zappacosta made the switch form Torino to Chelsea in 2017 on the request of his compatriot Antonio Conte.
The versatile wingback contributed in two goals and four assists in 55 appearances for the Blues before naturally returning to his home country two years later.
While these aren’t the most impressive of stats, it’s enough to warrant him a top 5 spot.
4- Emerson Palmieri
Following some solid performances for Roma, Conte identified Emerson Palmieri as the right profile to bolster the left flank in January 2018.
Despite the manager’s departure that summer, the Italo-Brazilian managed to earn the trust of Conte’s successor Maurizio Sarri, temporarily usurping Marcos Alonso for a starting role.
However, the Euro 2020 winner has been on the outs since the arrival of Ben Chilwell, and spent the previous campaign on loan at Lyon.
3- Marcos Alonso
After signing the Spaniard from Fiorentina in 2016, few Chelsea fans would have expected Marcos Alonso to cement himself as a stalwart at the club, especially following his forgettable English spells at Bolton and Sunderland earlier in his career.
Yet, the 31-year-old has thus far featured in 211 competitive matches for the club, scoring 29 goals in the process and providing his teammates with 23 assists.
Not a bad tally for a wingback.
2- Jorginho
When Sarri took charge at Cobham in 2018, a reunion with his Napoli pupil was at the very top of his wish-list.
Thus, a section of the club’s supporters disliked Jorginho simply for being affiliated with the chain-smoking manager.
Strangely, the midfielder’s best run at Chelsea came following the departure of his old mentor, cementing himself as one of the best deep-lying playmakers in the world under the guidance of Frank Lampard and then Tuchel.
The Regista played a significant role in the club’s Champions League triumph in 2021, eventually landing on the podium of the Ballon d’Or (parallelly thanks to his Euro 2020 heroics).
1- Antonio Rudiger
While he surely was a solid young defender during his time at Roma, Antonio Rudiger slowly but surely turned into one of the best centre backs at Chelsea.
Similarly to Jorginho, the German was an indispensable presence in Tuchel’s lineup that guided Chelsea towards European glory in 2021.
The former Stuttgart man has recently joined Real Madrid as a free agent, but for Chelsea fans, he will always remain one of their best ever imports from Serie A.