Karim Benzema on a short-term loan to Chelsea seems like a match made in heaven on paper – but similar deals have crashed and burned in recent history.
It would appear that signing a player of Benzema’s ilk could only bolster a team’s attacking force.
A Ballon d’Or winner, Champions League hero for Real Madrid and scorer of 450 club goals ticks all the boxes for a club desperate for a striker.
Similarly, Benzema is already eyeing an exit from Saudi Arabia where he moved to in the summer and a return to a club which won the Champions League just three years ago would be an attractive destination.
But if the prospect of a six-month loan at Chelsea has Blues fans salivating, they need only look to recent temporary moves at Stamford Bridge that fell horrendously short of expectations.
Joao Felix (Loan from Atletico Madrid, 2023)
After a loss of form under Graham Potter and a lack of goals, Chelsea made an extravagant move for Felix in January to save their season – paying £9.7million in loan fees.
Once a winner of the Golden Boy award and a player with bags of potential, Atletico boss Diego Simeone was happy to see him leave due to a lack of work-rate.
And so that proved the case at Chelsea, where he showed glimpses of brilliance but ultimately failed to impress – scoring just four in 20 appearances.
His debut pretty much summed up his time in London, receiving a straight red card against Fulham that saw him miss three games – or about £3m in fees.
Denis Zakaria (Loan from Juventus, 2022)
As time dwindled on an explosive summer at Chelsea where new owner Todd Boehly splashed out millions and millions, it became evident that he had forgot one position – defensive midfield.
With the transfer window approaching an end, a quick deal was put together for Zakaria to join from Juventus as he signed on September 1.
Such conditions were never ideal and he made just seven brief appearances in the Premier League, 13 in total.
That included just one appearance in three months, failing to even make the bench after a defeat to Brighton in April.
The loan deal included an option to buy for Chelsea, suffice to say that option was never even considered by the club at the end of the season.
Saul Niguez (Loan from Atletico Madrid, 2021)
Fresh from winning the Champions League, Thomas Tuchel had plenty of credit in the bank at Chelsea as they splashed out £97m on Romelu Lukaku, which went disastrously.
Much like Zakaria a year later, Saul ended up joining on deadline day with Chelsea’s midfield problems remaining.
A player with huge European experience, a Simeone servant and capable of doing a job at both ends of the pitch, the £3.4m loan deal was initially hailed as a decent squad option.
That was until he played at Stamford Bridge and it became evident why Atletico were happy to see him leave for the season as he struggled to contend with the pace of the Premier League.
Just 10 league appearances later and Chelsea decided against signing him permanently while he still remains at Madrid now.
Gonzalo Higuain (Loan from Juventus, 2019)
With similar echoes to a pending Benzema deal, Higuain’s arrival at Stamford Bridge looked like a match made in heaven for a side craving goals.
Maurizio Sarri was in charge of Chelsea at the time, the same manager that helped the Argentine score a whopping 36 goals in 35 Serie A appearances for Napoli in 2015/16.
Chelsea fans were excited to see the striker in action, whose impressive CV saw him clock up goals at Real Madrid, Juventus and AC Milan.
What they got was an unmotivated lump of a striker who turned up when he could be bothered, scoring five times in 19 appearances – though that did include a rocket against Huddersfield.
Mateo Kovacic (Loan from Real Madrid, 2018)
Real Madrid were happy to see Kovacic leave with Luka Modric and Toni Kroos going nowhere anytime soon as Chelsea snapped him up on a season-long loan.
However, it was not a season to remember for the Croatian as he largely flitted in and out of the team with Chelsea fans often joking that he and Ross Barkley were being constantly switched in and out by Sarri.
When Chelsea were hit with a transfer ban the following summer, it meant that they could not register any new players – thus leading to the Blues signing Kovacic permanently as he was already on their books.
What followed was a complete transformation as the midfielder went on to become a key player under new boss Frank Lampard and under subsequent regimes.
Chelsea fans went from groaning his name to rueing his departure as he signed for Manchester City on a free transfer in the summer.
Alex Pato (Loan from Corinthians, 2016)
Late into the January transfer window, Chelsea made the surprise move to sign Pato on loan from Corinthians after failing to live up to the early promise in his career.
But with the Blues crying out for firepower, it was a risk they were willing to take after a spectacularly bad season that saw Jose Mourinho sacked in his second stint.
However, months would pass before Pato would ever kick a ball for Chelsea – eventually playing against Aston Villa on April 2, 66 days after signing.
The Brazilian would actually score on his debut, netting from the penalty spot before playing just once more for the club.
Radamel Falcao (Loan from Monaco, 2015)
In a tale almost as old as time, Chelsea were in the market for a striker and decided that the best option available was Falcao.
That was despite a desperately poor campaign at Manchester United the season before where he scored just four times but that didn’t put off the powers at Stamford Bridge.
Needless to say, it was not a return to form for Falcao, who had been one of Europe’s best strikers in his pomp with Monaco and Atletico Madrid.
An injury-ravaged campaign saw him end the season with 10 Premier League appearances and one goal – a header against Crystal Palace.
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