Chelsea still paying price for Conte's disastrous £187m transfer spending spree

Planted somewhere on an Italian beach this summer, Antonio Conte is probably sipping an expensive cocktail while lapping up the joys of being unemployed.

As the last days of the transfer window approach, the Italian can sit back and relax. But Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia can't - Roman Abramovich's trusted advisor is busy cleaning up the mess Conte left behind from four years ago.

The Italian's success in his debut season earned him the right to spend big in the summer of 2017. After all, he had guided a seemingly average Chelsea side that finished 10th the previous season to Premier League glory in his debut campaign, following in Carlo Ancelotti's footsteps.

But in his attempts to build on the squad, Conte was hamstrung.

Antonio Conte's second season in charge of Chelsea did not go to plan, notably his £187m summer spree ( Image:

Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

He had viewed Napoli's Kalidou Koulibaly as his defensive linchpin, but got David Luiz instead. He wanted Radja Nainggolan, but the Blues would not pay the £40m asking price. Romelu Lukaku was his top target, but he went to Manchester United for £75m.

As a result, Conte was able to sign targets further down his shortlist who were cheaper, but certainly not better, spending a total of £187m.

That led to disagreements with the hierarchy over transfer policy and the 52-year-old eventually left his role at the end of the 2017-18 season, with Chelsea finishing a disappointing fifth in the table.

Four years later, the west London side are still paying the price for some of the transfer mistakes they made that summer.

Mirror Football looks at which players arrived at Stamford Bridge and what happened next…

Which player would you like to see Chelsea sign this summer? Let us know in the comments section.

Alvaro Morata — £60m

Alvaro Morata lasted just 18 months at Chelsea before joining Atletico Madrid ( Image:

AFP via Getty Images)

Conte might have wanted to bring Lukaku back to west London but in signing Alvaro Morata, Chelsea at least acquired a player he never got to work to with at Juventus.

Morata, then 24, had joined the Bianconeri months after Conte resigned from the job in Turin back in 2014 and spent two years in Italy before returning to Real Madrid.

The Spaniard had earned a reputation for being clinical in front of goal despite never holding down a regular spot with Los Blancos. But Chelsea paid around £60million to sign him to spearhead their attack, with Diego Costa exiled from the first team.

The towering striker had showed his aerial prowess with a number of impressive headed finishes and concluded his debut campaign in England with 15 goals in all competitions.

But when Conte signed Olivier Giroud in January 2018, Morata struggled to keep his consistency and began to miss gilt-edged chances, resulting in him dropping to the bench.

The striker claimed that he and his family had trouble settling in London and in January 2019, Atletico Madrid swooped to sign Morata on a loan deal with an obligation to buy for £58m. He is now back at Juventus for a second spell after arriving on loan from Atletico.

Tiemoue Bakayoko — £40m

Tiemoue Bakayoko has rejoined AC Milan on loan to end his Chelsea hell ( Image:

Getty Images)

Quite what happened to the player who looked like a world beater at AS Monaco in 2016-17, only Tiemoue Bakayoko will know.

Chelsea had missed out on their top target Nainggolan but Conte was keen to bring in Bakayoko, a France international who at 22 had his whole career ahead of him.

The £40m fee made him the club's second-most expensive signing before Morata arrived and with it, the pressure came. The central midfielder showed glimpses of his ability in his first season, making 43 appearances and scoring twice.

But some torrid displays, including a 35-minute cameo against Watford where he made an error that led to a goal and was later sent off, exposed some glaring weaknesses in his game.

Once Conte had departed and in came Maurizio Sarri to replace him, the writing appeared to be on the wall for Bakayoko. Jorginho had been joined the Italian in signing from Napoli and that left the Frenchman out of the picture.

He joined AC Milan on loan in August 2018, spent the next season back at Monaco and was most recently loaned to Napoli. All three deals included options to make the deal permanent — and it was telling that none of the clubs opted to.

But Chelsea have finally found a way out of the situation, allowing Bakayoko to rejoin Milan on a two-year loan and the Rossoneri will purchase the centre midfield for £16.1m in two seasons' time.

Danny Drinkwater — £35m

Danny Drinkwater is not in Thomas Tuchel's plans this season but looks set to see out his Chelsea contract ( Image:

Action Images via Reuters)

The only comparable deal in Chelsea's history to their signing of Danny Drinkwater is when they were encouraged to hand Winston Bogarde a four-year deal — only the Dutchman didn't cost £35m on top of his £100,000-a-week wages.

The deal was done on transfer deadline day in August 2017 and it came from almost out of the blue. Drinkwater had formed a key part of Leicester 's title-winning campaign in 2015-16, but the fee — putting him inside the top 10 most expensive English footballers ever — seemed excessive.

Drinkwater played a prominent role in Conte's second season in charge and amongst his few highlights at Chelsea are a stunning strike against Stoke City and a decent display against Atletico Madrid.

But under Maurizio Sarri he was banished from the first-team and from there, his career has never recovered.

Loan spells at Aston Villa and Burnley failed to trigger a permanent switch and spent last season on loan with Kasimpasa. But even there, he filled a bit-part role for the Turkish outfit.

Drinkwater has 10 months left on his Chelsea deal and it does not seem like that will be extended after sealing a loan move to Championship outfit Reading.

Antonio Rudiger — £29m

Antonio Rudiger has been a largely successful signing for Chelsea ( Image:

Getty Images)

Conte can at least look at how Antonio Rudiger celebrated lifting the Champions League in May this year with some pride, knowing he got one of his signings right.

In truth, the German appeared to be heading down the same path as his fellow 2017 alumni at one stage.

Rudiger had quickly settled in west London to become a key member of the Chelsea side under Conte, Sarri and Frank Lampard, making over 150 appearances for the team since his move from AS Roma.

But during the 2020-21 campaign, the central defender lost form and was frozen out under Lampard, leading Rudiger to request a loan move in January. His manager was sacked, however, and Thomas Tuchel convinced him to stay.

How he must be glad he changed his mind, with Rudiger now in the form of his life, and he will be keen to add some more shiny trophies to the Champions League winners' medal he has waiting at home.

Davide Zappacosta — £23m

Davide Zappacosta joined Atalanta this summer in a £8.5m deal

Call it a lack of luck or it an absence of talent, but Davide Zappacosta never quite got the chance to prove himself at Chelsea.

It could be argued that the 25-year-old was another panic signing as the Blues made a late move to sign the Italy international from Torino on deadline day four years ago. The truth is Conte knew of his talents from his time as the Azzurri's head coach.

But sometimes, the language barrier and other mitigating factors can result in making a player's transition from one nation to another more difficult.

Zappacosta was used predominantly in cup competitions and Europe as a back-up to Cesar Azpilicueta and scored a memorable goal against FK Qarabag in the Champions League.

A loan switch to Roma in 2019-20 was cut short after just four games when he picked up an ACL injury and he returned to Chelsea for treatment. But after his recovery, Zappacosta rediscovered his passion for the game at Genoa.

This summer, Chelsea finally offloaded the full-back permanently in an £8.5m deal to Atalanta and it seems that by heading to the Serie A, he is back where he belongs.