Chelsea managed to rise as one of the strongest clubs in the Premier League since it has been bought by a Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich. Abramovich came along with a ton of money and allocated ludicrous amount of transfer funds that allowed Chelsea to buy a lot of quality players. This phenomenon resulted significant increases in Chelsea's reputations as well as performances, both in domestic and European competitions.
In this article, I present a list of 15 best Chelsea strikers of all time who played for this club before and during the Abramovich era. Who are they, and who deserves the title as the best?
15. Fernando Torres
Considering his overall appearance and the number of goals he scored, many people, even Chelsea fans, believe that Torres is a great disappointment for the club. However, I personally think that Torres should be included in this list because he scored some important goals for Chelsea. For example is a goal that he made in the 2012 Champions League semi-final which eliminated Barcelona and a goal in the final match of the Europa League against Benfica which helped Chelsea to be a champion of the tournament.
14. Mark Hughes
Mark Hughes is a legendary Manchester United striker who played for Chelsea in the 1995-1998 period. Together with Gianfranco Zola, Hughes managed to restore Chelsea's reputation as one of the elite clubs in the Premier League, after in the previous seasons they were only regarded as a mid-table club. Hughes played a major role in helping Chelsea win a FA Cup trophy, a Cup Winners', and a League Cup trophy.
13. Roy Bentley
Roy Bentley is a retired English striker who played for Chelsea in the 1948-1956 period. Throughout his career, Bentley is known as a prolific striker who had powerful shot and strong heading ability. His best career period at Chelsea occurred in 1954-55 season, where he was trusted to be the captain of the team and helped the Blues won their first Premier League title. In the same season, he also became the top scorer of the competition.
12. Kerry Dixon
Kerry Dixon is a former English striker who played for Chelsea for nine years, from 1983 to 1992. Throughout his career, Dixon is known as a tall and fast player. He also had powerful heading ability and very prolific in scoring goals. Dixon was highly credited when he helped Chelsea earn a promotion to Division One (equivalent to the Premier League) of English League after this club spending many years competed in Division Two (equivalent to the Championship League).
11. Eden Hazard
Eden Hazard is not a pure striker, but he is a winger who sometimes acts as an attacking midfielder. This Belgium player was signed from Lille for a fee of 32 million pounds in 2012 and immediately able to prove his quality since his first season at Chelsea. In his first season, Hazard helped Chelsea win the Europa League. He is known as a fast player, has good dribbling skills, as well as creative and visionary. If he continues to play for Chelsea and maintain his good performances, Hazard has potential to become a legendary player of this club.
10. Eidur Gudjohnsen
The duet of Eidur Gudjohnsen and Jimmy Hasselbaink in the early 2000s was recognized as one of the greatest duets in the Premier League at that time. Gudjohnsen has a tall stature, good technique, and could act as a supplier of assists for Hasselbaink who had a role as the primary goal machine for the club. His creativity and good vision even made Gudjohnsen is often played as an attacking midfielder in the era of Jose Mourinho. During his period at Chelsea, Gudjohnsen won two Premier League titles and a League Cup trophy.
9. Peter Osgood
Peter Osgood is one of the legendary Chelsea strikers who played for the club in the periods 1964-1974 and 1978-1979. He is an original player who was raised by Chelsea Youth Academy. Osgood is a complete striker, pacey, effective, and intelligent in converting chances into goals. One of the best performances is in the final match of Winners' Cup in 1971 against Real Madrid, in which he scored a goal that helped Chelsea win this tournament.
8. Nicolas Anelka
Although he showed inconsistent performances, Anelka still should be regarded as one of the best Chelsea strikers of all time. Joining the Blues in the 2008-2012 period, Anelka successfully demonstrated excellent performance as a replacement of Didier Drogba who was severely injured in the 2008-09 season. In that season, he became the top scorer of the Premier League and won the FA Cup trophy. The player left Chelsea in 2012 to join a Chinese League club, Shanghai Shenhua, who allegedly paid him a salary of approximately 175,000 pounds per week.
7. Gianluca Vialli
Gianluca Vialli played for Chelsea in the period 1996-1999 and underwent two years of career as player-manager. Vialli's career at Chelsea as a player and coach were quite brilliant, where he was able to win a Winners' Cup and a European Super Cup. One of his best performances as a striker occurred in the 1997-98 season, where he scored four goals in a game against Barnsley.
6. Jimmy Greaves
Jimmy Greaves is one of the best English striker of all time. Not only becoming a legend of Chelsea, the player is also regarded as one of the greatest striker of Tottenham Hotspur. Greaves holds the record as the all-time leading scorer in the Premier League (with a total of 366 goals) and become a striker who scored the most hattrick for England national team (with a total of six hattricks). He played for Chelsea in the 1957-1961 period, scored 124 goals in 157 appearances.
5. Tore Andre Flo
With a tall and strong body stature as well as good finishing ability, Flo became Chelsea's first-choice striker in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Together with Gianfranco Zola, Flo played a major role in helping Chelsea win an FA Cup, a Cup Winners', and a European Super Cup. This player also always managed to show his best performance even in the final period of his career at Chelsea, where he mostly played as a substitute.
4. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
During four years of playing for Chelsea from 2000-2004, Hasselbaink three times became Chelsea's top scorer of the season. This player even became the Premier League's top scorer in his first season at Chelsea with a total of 23 goals. His duet with Eidur Gudjohnsen that was supported by Gianfranco Zola was regarded as one of the best offensive lineups in the Premier League at that time.
3. Gianfranco Zola
Although he has short stature and weak physical ability, Zola managed to cover up his weaknesses with excellent technical abilities. He possesses high creativity, good dribbling skills, and known as a reliable set-pieces taker. Not surprisingly, Zola became the mainstay of the Chelsea's offensive line during the period 1996-2003. During his career at Chelsea, he won a Winners' Cup, a UEFA Super Cup, a League Cup trophy, and two FA Cup trophies.
2. Bobby Tambling
Before his record being broken by Frank Lampard, Bobby Tambling was Chelsea's top scorer of all time for decades. The striker played for Chelsea for 11 years in the period 1959 to 1970 and scored 202 goals for the club. There are various drama decorated his career at Chelsea, especially when the club was relegated to the Division Two. Tambling struggled to restore the club's honor and finally managed to do it by winning the FA Cup just some years after the relegation. This player ended his career as a professional footballer at Cork Alberts, a small club in the Ireland League.
1. Didier Drogba
Didier Drogba is a striker from Ivory Coast who had tremendous contribution for Chelsea. He played in the 2004-2012 period, helped Chelsea win three Premier League titles, four FA Cup trophies, two League Cup trophies and one Champions League trophy. Drogba is a striker with extremely strong physical abilities. He is powerful, fast, loyal, and very prolific in scoring goals. In 2012, Drogba even managed to occupy the first position in a poll titled "Chelsea's Greatest Ever Player" that was issued by Chelsea Magazine.
