Chelsea aren't in the best of places at the moment, to put it lightly.
Todd Boehly and Co have invested a considerable amount of money in the team over the last couple of years and have seen very little in return.
Mauricio Pochettino has been left with a young squad filled with some players who have a lot to prove, such as Mykhailo Mudryk and some who are clearly super talents, such as Cole Palmer.
It could take some time before the west Londoners have a squad that they can rely on, but it could be worse. They could still be paying the massive wages of potentially one of their worst signings ever, who was on more than Palmer.
How much Cole Palmer makes at Chelsea
Chelsea signed Palmer for around £40m from Premier League rivals Manchester City last summer, and to say he has been a runaway hit in the capital would be downplaying it.
The Manchester-born gem has already scored 12 goals and provided ten assists in just 32 games for the Blues and looks far and away the club's best attacker whenever he's on the pitch.
Appearances
32
Starts
28
Minutes
2475'
Goals
12
Assists
10
Goal Involvements per Match
0.68
He is also becoming something of a big-game player for the Pensioners, with league goals against Arsenal, Manchester United, and City. He also assisted Axel Disasi's 83rd-minute equaliser against Brentford last weekend.
Described as a "breath of fresh air" to the Chelsea dressing room by U23 scout Antonio Mango, it's impossible to ignore the seismic impact the 21-year-old has had at Stamford Bridge, and it's worrying to think where the team might be currently had they not signed him.
So, with that, fans might expect the dynamic attacker to be one of the better-paid players at the club, but they would be wrong. Currently, 15 Chelsea players earn more than Palmer's £75k-per-week wage, although, with his performances this year, that number will dramatically shrink in the coming seasons.
However, Palmer's relatively moderate wage makes the money paid to former flop Danny Drinkwater seem even more insane.
How much Danny Drinkwater earned at Chelsea
Drinkwater is a name that probably conjures up a number of feelings among Blues fans. Some may be annoyed that the club signed him, some may be upset that the move never worked out, and some may have forgotten he was even a Chelsea player at all.
As one of the stars who helped Leicester City win the Premier League in the 2015/16 season, the Manchester-born midfielder's stock was relatively high throughout the 2016/17 season, in spite of the Foxes' troubled title defence.
So, when Chelsea opted to sign him in September 2017, it wasn't a massive surprise, but the £35m price tag was.
While nobody expected him to have quite the same impact that his former teammate N'Golo Kante had when he made the switch a year earlier, there was still a general expectation that he would be a useful player for the squad, but even that proved too much.
Appearances
23
Starts
12
Minutes
1181'
Goals
1
Assists
0
In his first season, he played just 22 times for the Pensioners, scoring one goal while battling several calf and thigh problems in a bid to rediscover the form he showed at the King Power stadium.
However, he made just a single appearance the following season, as new manager Maurizio Sarri clearly didn't see a future for him in his side.
Unfortunately, loan moves to Burnley and Aston Villa the following season did little to revive his career. He played just two games for Sean Dyche's side and four for Villa before being dropped from the team for a training ground incident with Jota Peleteiro.
With his options severely limited at this point, the three-capped Englishman went on loan to Turkish side Kasimpasa for half a season in 2020/21. He then spent his final year as a Chelsea player on loan at Reading, where he would finally play a significant amount of football again, making 34 appearances in total.
In all, the Premier League winner made just 23 appearances for Chelsea and scored a single goal, all while taking home a healthy pay packet of £100k-per-week for the 130 weeks he wasn't on loan somewhere.
This means he cost the club around £2m-per-appearance and a whopping £48m-per-goal.
Chelsea played a blinder selling £34m gem who's worth less than Sterling
The Cobham star has had a rough couple of years away from Stamford Bridge.
ByJack Salveson HolmesMar 6, 2024
Ultimately, with figures like that, it's hard to disagree with ESPN's assessment of the move being the second worst in Premier League history.