EXCLUSIVE: Chelsea let Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne leave Stamford Bridge long before they reached their peak.
Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne both slipped through Chelsea's fingertips (Image: Getty)
Chelsea have endured their fair share of transfer howlers over the years. Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne were both sold by senior Stamford Bridge figures before going on to become two of the Premier League era's true greats.
Blues fans are still forced to watch on in agony while Salah, who made only 13 league appearances for the club, tears teams apart with Liverpool. The Egyptian has not finished any of his seven campaigns on Merseyside with fewer than 18 Prem goals and boasts one of the best strike rates in the competition's history.
De Bruyne, who played only nine games for Chelsea, inspires the same sense of regret while pulling the strings for reigning Premier League champions Manchester City.
Neither player showed, during their time at Stamford Bridge, that they would go on to become modern heavyweights of the game. Chelsea newcomer Jadon Sancho will hope that, like Salah and De Bruyne, his career will take off after moving to pastures new.
With the winger making an electric start to his loan move from Manchester United, which will become permanent by obligation next summer, Chelsea could flip the script of their past transfer failures and make the Red Devils regret letting go of a top talent.
Premier League legend Michael Owen believes that a change of manager can sometimes be all a player needs to unlock their full potential.
"Some players play better under some managers in different teams," Owen told Express Sport, in association with AceOdds. "We've seen it loads of times. We've seen some of the great players not work out at certain teams. You look at someone like De Bruyne and Salah now, two of the best players in the Premier League.
"Well, they were sold by Chelsea at some point. They certainly weren't this good back then and the managers in the club at the time didn't foresee them being this good back then, otherwise they wouldn't have sold them.
"Sancho going to another top club was a great move for him, under a manager [Enzo Maresca] who likes him and knows him. As I say, there's no point having a huge asset sat on your bench or even sat in the stands, so you might as well sell him if that's the case.
"So it was probably a good move for everybody in the end. Sancho had plenty of chances with Manchester United. With the manager [Erik ten Hag] staying and that bit of friction between the manager and the player, then it might have been a wise move for all concerned."
Liverpool icon Mohamed Salah is known as "the Egyptian King"Manchester City have completed the signing of Omar Marmoush from Eintracht Frankfurt in a £65m deal - with their announcement on social media amusing fans of rivals Liverpool. Egyptian striker Marmoush has agreed a contract that will keep him at the Etihad until 2029. The move will take City's spending to almost £150m in the las...
Fabrizio Romano has provided CaughtOffside with an exclusive video update on the Alejandro Garnacho to Chelsea story that has emerged today.In a new post for the Daily Briefing, Romano confirmed the stories about Chelsea’s interest in the Manchester United winger, whilst also reporting on Napoli being keen.Although Garnacho has mostly been an important player for Man Utd in the last couple o...
Several Serie A clubs are interested in Casadei, with Lazio already making an £11.5 million bid, per Gianluca Di Marzio.Since joining Chelsea in 2023, Casadei has made only 17 appearances and had loan spells at Reading and Leicester City. To fill the gap in the squad, Chelsea is pushing to sign Hellas Verona's Reda Belahyane for £12.6 million.Belahyane has made 20 appearances in Serie A ...
The Gunners want to sign a new attacker to lead their attack, someone who is more prolific than their current options at the club.While Kai Havertz has regained his form by scoring two goals in the last two games, against Aston Villa and Dinamo Zagreb, there is a need for a lethal presence in front of goal for Mikel Arteta's team.The long term injury suffered by Gabriel Jesus has made matter worse...
Premier Injuries still say it will be months before the England international returns to the Gunners first-team, so there is a real need for Mikel Arteta to get his feet wet in terms of transfers this month.Arsenal want Semenyo to replace Bukayo SakaIndeed, Arteta noted the severity of Saka's injury, leaving his side light in the area of the pitch where the 23-year-old does his best work.Wolves' M...
The Red Devils have struggled in front of goal this season with both their strikers; Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee failing to make an impact this season.Both of them have scored a combined five Premier League goals this season and their poor form is one of the main reasons why they are having a disastrous season.As they search for a new striker in the transfer market, they have identified Lill...
Oleksandr Zinchenko is expected to leave Arsenal before the January transfer window shuts with Borussia Dortmund ready to make a move for the left-back.Dortmund are in the market for a new left-back and are believed to have put Zinchenko at the top of their wanted list after missing out on Chelsea's Renato Veiga.Chelsea have agreed to allow Veiga to move to Juventus on loan for the rest of the sea...
Let's start our Daily Laugh today. Man Utd 2-1 Ranger last night lolRuben Amorim I'm running out of Oil money Josko Gvardiol (22) is currently younger than Phil Foden (24) This I understand rodrygo bc i would try to impress her every game too Please stay tuned on Daily Laugh. There will be more fun tomorrow!(Credit: Justtoonit, FootballLaughss, PL__OOC)...
MANCHESTER UNITED fans made jokes at their club's expense after taking a look at Amad's dodgy training kit.United have had troubles on and off the pitch this season.Amad Diallo's training top featured an upside-down crestThey are 13th in the Premier League table having lost 10 of their 22 league games, with Ruben Amorim even smashing a TV following their defeat to Brighton at the weekend.Off the p...
Ronald Araujo has signed a new contract with Barcelona, committing to the Catalan club until 2031 and ending any lingering doubt over his future.The 25-year-old's previous contract was due to expire in 2026 and he had drawn interest from Juventus, among other sides, this month.However, ESPN revealed recently that a meeting with sporting director Deco had convinced him to stay.Araujo put pen to pap...
- 1 Benjamin Sesko has already said yes to Arsenal
- 2 Man City £190m transfer spree
- 3 Joao Felix eyed by ‘very interested club’
- 4 Ex-Bundesliga star's WAG has intimate tattoo of footballer husband
- 5 Shaun Murphy copies Lionel Messi as he sleeps with Masters trophy
- 6 Teen arrested after shock abuse against Kai Havertz's wife Sophia
- 7 Daily Laugh - Chelsea 's back !!
- 8 Man Utd 'consider Jack Grealish transfer'
- 9 Mourinho makes drastic career change and launches 'The Special One' wine
- 10 Transfer news and rumours LIVE