Alejandro Garnacho, Raheem Sterling and the top 10 worst Chelsea signings of the BlueCo era - ranked

There are too many honourable mentions to, er, mention here, with plenty of flops just about avoiding being included in our top 10 worst signings of the BlueCo era, but Carney Chukwuemeka squeezes in by virtue of his Chelsea spell being a complete non-event.

Chukwuemeka arrived to plenty of fanfare in a £20m deal from Aston Villa in 2022 having inspired England to glory at the Under-19 European Championship, but injuries and simply being overlooked meant his Stamford Bridge career never took off as he made just 32 appearances in two-and-a-half years before joining Borussia Dortmund last summer following an initial loan.

It was seen as a major coup when Chelsea pounced early to sign Christopher Nkunku from RB Leipzig for £52m in 2023, a player who had been prolific in the Bundesliga and looked capable of spearheading the Blues' attack for years to come. However, that is certainly not how things panned out.

A serious knee injury suffered in pre-season shortly after he joined up with the club set the tone, keeping Nkunku out for half of 2023-24, and in truth he never really recovered. He was a bit-part player in 2024-25 despite returning to fitness, with Cole Palmer emerging as the Blues' star forward player, and he was eventually sold to AC Milan last summer after making just 27 Premier League appearances.

Chelsea raised plenty of eyebrows last summer when they decided to take advantage of a market opportunity and signed Alejandro Garnacho from Premier League rivals Manchester United for £40m after he had been frozen out by Ruben Amorim. Ultimately, the transfer has proved to be a monumental waste of everyone's time (except United, who will be very happy with that return, on reflection).

The winger looked bereft of the confidence and verve that marked him out as such an exciting talent during his time at Old Trafford, failing to establish himself in Chelsea's starting XI under either Enzo Maresca or Liam Rosenior while delivering countless forgettable performances on the left flank.

The west Londoners are widely reported to be prepared to cut their losses already, but they will be very lucky to bring in the £43-£45m fee they are looking for.

Signed from Barcelona at the request of Thomas Tuchel in the summer of 2022, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was doomed to fail at Chelsea as soon as the German tactician was sacked just a day after the striker had made his debut for the club.

Aubameyang was clearly never really fancied by Tuchel's successor Graham Potter and was eventually frozen out before he inevitably departed on a free transfer to Marseille. That brought the curtain down on a mightily underwhelming single-season stay with the Blues that yielded just 21 appearances and three goals.

Many expected Kalidou Koulibaly to have a transformative effect on Chelsea's defence, joining the club in BlueCo's first transfer window at the helm in 2022 having developed a stellar reputation during his time at Napoli. Ultimately, though, the centre-back would last just a single season.

Amid a tumultuous campaign where there was an incessant churn in the dugout, some high-profile errors saw the Senegal international fail to establish himself as a key figure, and the Blues cut their losses the following summer when Koulibaly was sold to Saudi giants Al-Hilal, heading to the Gulf State among the first wave of big-name players to move there.

This was supposed to be a blockbuster marquee signing to get the BlueCo era underway with a bang, but Raheem Sterling's Chelsea career would become a damp squib. The England international arrived from Manchester City in a £47.5m deal as a proven Premier League goal-scorer who had won multiple titles, but he never lived up to those lofty standards in west London.

Following two underwhelming seasons, Sterling was banished to the infamous 'bomb squad' by Maresca and headed on an unsuccessful loan to Arsenal in 2024-25. He remained an outcast when he returned in the summer of 2025 and eventually had his contract terminated in January 2026, some 18 months since his last appearance for the Blues.

A player BlueCo wanted so badly they signed him twice, but in hindsight they shouldn't have ever bothered. Joao Felix didn't exactly pull up trees during his initial short-term loan from Atletico Madrid (where he had also flattered to deceive) as he joined Chelsea amid their unprecedented winter of spending in January 2023, and the red card he received on his debut against Fulham should have been a red flag.

For some reason, the club saw fit to bring Felix back in 2024 following his productive spell with Barcelona, but he would last just half a season under Maresca, failing to make any sort of lasting impression before being shipped out on loan to AC Milan for the rest of the campaign. He subsequently moved to Al-Nassr on a permanent basis in the summer of 2025.

Blink and you might have missed Facundo Buonanotte's time at Chelsea. The Argentine attacking midfielder was unexpectedly brought in on loan from Brighton late in the 2025 summer transfer window, presumably to add a bit of depth to then-head coach Maresca's squad.

Buonanotte would amass just eight appearances - including a sole outing in the Premier League - and was regularly left out of matchday squads before having his deal terminated in January having failed to make any kind of impact in the blue shirt. An equally uninspiring half-season at Leeds would follow, too.

You'd be forgiven for not having heard of Deivid Washington, but the attacker actually remains on Chelsea's books despite making just three first-team appearances (way back in 2023-24) in the three years since he joined the club from Santos for a cool £17m, having been among a clutch of youngsters to sign very long-term deals at Stamford Bridge.

Washington has largely plied his trade in the development squad in that time, although he rejoined Santos on loan in 2025, only to be recalled having failed to make any lasting impression. Now 21, the formerly highly-rated striker clearly has no long-term future with the Blues and you can expect him to move on on a permanent basis imminently.

We may never find out what might have been for Mykhailo Mudryk, who is currently serving a four-year ban for a doping offence that will probably bring a miserable end to his nightmarish time at Chelsea. The winger's £89m arrival from Shakhtar Donetsk in January 2023 generated serious excitement among the fanbase, but the move could hardly have gone any worse.

Mudryk largely looked bereft of the youthful exuberance and confidence that had convinced the Blues to shell out that massive fee, finding himself in and out of the team under a succession of managers before being provisionally suspended in November 2024. He hasn't played since.

In April 2026 it emerged that Mudryk had been handed the maximum four-year anti-doping ban by the Football Association, and although he has lodged an appeal and reportedly believes he could be able to return to the pitch in 2026-27, it would be a shock to see the Ukrainian in a Chelsea shirt ever again.

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