£17m signing is one of Chelsea’s worst mistakes in recent years, Blues have let him down

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Even though Chelsea can reflect on some major successes in the transfer market during recent years with the likes of Cole Palmer, you can make a strong case that there’s been a lot more misses than hits.

The transfer policy since the Chelsea owners bought the club in May 2022 has been ambitious and adventurous. It’s fair to point out that they’ve gotten a lot wrong so far, though.

Chelsea usually invests in exciting youngsters with one eye on the future, which has resulted in an inexperienced Blues squad right now.

Chelsea’s hierarchy believe they’ve built a very good squad for head coach Enzo Maresca to work with, although they acknowledge it’s still not perfect yet.

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£17m signing is one of Chelsea’s worst mistakes in recent years

When it comes to Chelsea errors in the transfer market in recent times, the signing of Deivid Washington belongs somewhere near the top of the list.

Back in August 2023, the Blues paid £17m (BBC) to sign Washington from Brazilian giants Santos.

Remarkably, if you fast-forward 18 months, Chelsea youngster Washington is now about to re-join Santos on loan for a year.

The 19-year-old striker has really struggled to make a significant impact in English football since completing his move to London. In fact, it’s pretty damning that he’s only made three first-team appearances for the Blues, which all came in the 2023/24 season under Mauricio Pochettino’s management.

Chelsea have let Deivid Washington down

Chelsea paid a decent fee to bring Washington to the club from his native Brazil in 2023. However, we don’t feel like he’s had a fair crack as he prepares to go out on loan.

While we’re not aware of what goes on every single day on the training pitch at Cobham, we can see that there’s been a striker problem at the club in recent times. However, the South American youngster hasn’t really had a look-in.

Chelsea had hope that Washington could break into the first team, but he’s spent the majority of his time playing with the Under-21s side. Incidentally, the Brazilian forward has scored four goals in five Premier League 2 fixtures this season for the U21s.

Many years ago a £17m investment on any player would’ve been really exciting. Under the current ownership, it gets you someone who’s never really given much of a sniff of the senior team and is primed to leave on loan.

If he wasn’t going to get a crack under Enzo Maresca this season, the club should’ve secured a loan move back in the summer, preferably to an English club. We’re now concerned that he’ll never be seen in Chelsea colours again.