£250m Spent, Over £2m Per Goal: Closer Look At Chelsea's Failed Striker Signings

Romelu Lukaku is set to leave Chelsea after just one season back at the club. The Blues spent £101m on the striker and he failed to have any positive impact with the team.

Looking back at history, Chelsea's spending on 'big strikers' has not gone well for the club. Let's take a look at four of the biggest striker flops signed by the club in the Roman Abramovich era, starting from the early to the latest ones.

Andriy Shevchenko

Transfer fee: £39.49m

Appearances: 77

Goals: 22

Chelsea signed the Ballon d'Or-winning striker in the 2006/07 season in hopes of winning the Champions League. However, his time here was not very good.

Shevchenko spent two seasons with the club, scoring 14 and eight goals before being loaned back to AC Milan and then was sold to Dynamo Kyiv for a minimal fee. A transfer to forget.

Fernando Torres

Transfer fee: £52.65m

Appearances: 171

Goals: 45

Torres was a then-club record transfer and the move made headlines as Chelsea bought him from Liverpool. The striker was world-class for the Reds but failed to have a major impact for Chelsea.

Of course, Torres' most memorable moment came in the Champions League as he scored the tie-sealing goal against Barcelona in 2011/12, with Chelsea going on to win the whole thing. Still, his overall contribution was minimal and for £52.65m at the time, it was a flop transfer.

Alvaro Morata

Transfer fee: £59.40m

Appearances: 72

Goals: 24

Morata is still Chelsea's fourth-highest transfer of all time and he also broke the club record for a transfer fee when he came here. However, his time here was nothing short of a disaster.

The striker's heart never seemed to be at Chelsea and there were rumours of him being unhappy with the club and English football. Eventually, after scoring just 24 goals for the club and failing to impact in big games, he was loaned off to Atletico Madrid and then to Juventus before finally being sold.

Chelsea did get over £35m for his sale and loan fee, so it wasn't a complete waste of money. However, Morata will be remembered as a flop here.

Romelu Lukaku

Transfer fee:£101.70m

Appearances: 44

Goals: 15

A Premier League record transfer, Lukaku's second stint at Chelsea has been an utter disaster. Out of his 15 goals, only 10 came in the Premier League and Champions League combined.

Moreover, he kicked up a controversy in the middle of the season by publically airing his annoyance with Thomas Tuchel's tactics. Signed to be the striker that would make Chelsea contend for the Premier League, Lukaku was a massive failure who might go down as our worst transfer ever.

Total spend

Total spend on four strikers: £253.24m

Total appearances: 364

Total goals scored: 106

That comes out to fewer than one goal every three games for these players. Moreover, it comes out to over £2m spent per single goal for the four strikers - a horrible record.

Source: Tribuna