dailystar.co.uk
28.01.2022 / 14:37
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Chelsea nearly bought Raul in 2003 in deal that would have shattered world record fee
Chelsea were back in 2003 after Roman Abramovich bought the club.There were genuine concerns that the Blues would just buy every world class talent on the planet and win the Champions League every year for the next decade.You see clubs had always been rich, but no one had ever had a (seemingly) bottomless pit of money to play with.The concept of a player's price-tag has suddenly been thrown out the window and there wasn't a player alive who Chelsea couldn't afford.As Jamie Carragher recalled during a recent Sky Sports segment with Gary Neville, "that first summer … I just remember being in the canteen at Liverpool, you'd come in after training and it felt like [Chelsea] signed a player every day."It was like 'Breaking News: Chelsea have just spent £30million on X, Y, Z' … it was astonishing."The Blues spent over £150million that summer, bringing in the likes of Claude Makelele, Joe Cole, Damien Duff, Hernan Crespo and Juan Sebastian Veron.Although Abramovich's first proper attempt to upset the apple cart came when he made an audacious approach for Real Madrid striker Raul.Just a week or so after his takeover of Chelsea was completed, the club lodged a £71.4million bid for the Spaniard.Would Chelsea have won the Champions League earlier if Raul had joined them in 2003? Let us know what you think in the comments section below...To put that into perspective, the offer would've absolutely smashed the world transfer record at the time, which was £45million - a record that wouldn't be broken for another six years.It was a shot across the bows of football's financial establishment.
