3. Romelu Lukaku
Another Belgian signed in the summer of 2011, Romelu Lukaku came to Chelsea as an 18-year old promising striker who had scored 20 goals in the previous season for his former club Anderlecht. However, he spent most of his debut season playing for the Chelsea Reserves and made only 12 appearances for the senior team without scoring.
Lukaku expressed his displeasure on not getting enough playing time for the first team, and hence moved to West Bromwich Albion on loan for the subsequent season. And he showcased his true potential in his loan spell with the Baggies scoring a whopping 17 goals in 35 Premier League appearances, that included a perfect hat-trick in the final game of the Premier League against Manchester United. The match that eventually ended 5-5 turned out to be Sir Alex Ferguson’s last game in charge of the Manchester club. Lukaku had managed to outscore all of the Chelsea strikers that season and was tipped to become the star man for the Blues in the next season.
However, it was not to be for the Belgian next term as well, as he joined Everton on loan for the 2013-14 season, where he finished with 16 goals in 33 appearances in all competitions, leading Everton to a fifth-place finish in the league. The Belgian moved to the Toffees permanently the next season and has developed into one of the most explosive strikers in English football in the recent years, having scored 55 goals in 112 appearances for the Merseysiders since 2014, ten of which have come in the current season. Chelsea have expressed an interest in signing Lukaku back showing that they might have made a misjudgement in selling the 23-year old.