clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Chelsea aren't the only ones who made a Matic mistake

Michael Steele

We all know the story by now, I think. In early 2011, Chelsea had the rights to a young Serbian midfielder named Nemanja Matic, who was, naturally, on loan at Vitesse Arnhem. The Blues were also in desperate need of a centre back, and Benfica were in possession of a rather promising one named David Luiz. On deadline day, the two clubs were having trouble agreeing a deal to bring the curly-haired Brazilian to Stamford Bridge -- until Matic was added in as a makeweight.

Matic's inclusion in that transfer probably saved the Blues something like €5 million at the time. But it was never a particularly great idea, considering his potential. And here we are three years later, having to pay (we hope) something like five times that much to bring him back again. It's enough to make the club look a wee bit short-sighted.

Hilariously, though, Chelsea aren't the ones who made the biggest financial mistake on Matic in the past few years. Check this out:

Chelsea might have under-valued Matic by a lot, but at least they didn't get it that wrong. Had the third-part owners -- in this case the Benfica Stars fund -- waited until this sale, they'd have made something like €7.5 million -- 1400 percent more than they actually got. Oops indeed.

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for the We Ain't Got No History Daily Roundup newsletter!

A daily roundup of Chelsea news from We Ain't Got No History