He was the eighth best player in the world before everything went wrong at Chelsea

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Chelsea saw their highest representation in the Ballon d’Or this year when Cole Palmer finished eighth in the 2025 rankings.

It wasn’t even Palmer’s best year as a Chelsea player, however his brilliance was key to the Blues becoming Club World Cup champions over the summer.

Frank Lampard came closest to winning the award with a second place finish, and one of their former players who had already ranked highly was Juan Sebastian Veron.

Former Balon d’Or nominee Juan Sebastian Veron struggled at Chelsea

The Argentine midfielder finished in the 1999 version of the award, behind legends of the game such as Rivaldo and David Beckham.

Just two years after Veron had moved to Manchester United in 2001 for a record transfer fee, the Blues took the chance on signing the highly-rated midfielder for around half of what had been paid for him.

Despite being a member of Chelsea all the way until 2007, he only made 15 appearances for the club, and spent the majority of his time on loan away from Stamford Bridge.

Jose Mourinho allowed him to move to Inter Milan after his appointment, as he spent two years there before securing a move back to his home country.

Veron’s Chelsea career peaked in his first game

Ironically, things had got off to the best possible start in West London for Veron, scoring on the opening day of the 2003-04 campaign against Liverpool.

The Blues went on to beat them 2-1, and would also defeat the same opposition on the final day of the season to secure a place in the Champions League.

After he had promised so much in the early stages of his career, what Veron delivered was not to the levels that were expected. He suffered with a number of injury problems towards the end of his time in England too.

Chelsea have had some shocking transfers in their time, but a fee of around £15m in 2003 for a player who would play just 15 times will go down as one of their worst.