The last time Chelsea handed out a long contract, it backfired massively

Chelsea once signed a player on a huge £40,000-a-week contract for four years and he ended up doing little to earn his hefty paycheck.

In recent times under new owner Todd Boehly, the Blues have been tying their new additions down to extremely long-term contracts.

David Fofana penned a deal until 2029, Benoit Badiashile is contracted for seven-and-a-half year contract, while most recent signing Mykhaylo Mudryk is on a mammoth eight-and-a-half year arrangement after Chelsea pipped Arsenal to draft him in from Shakhtar Donetsk.

And former Spurs and Sunderland striker Darren Bent brought up a previous instance of a long contract being handed out to a player in west London.

He was referring to to the curious case of Winston Bogarde, who joined from Barcelona in 2000.

A two-time La Liga winner, Bogarde also played for AC Milan, Ajax and the Netherlands national team.

But at Chelsea, he played just nine times in the Premier League in a four-year period and there were reports that he still lived in Holland and would fly to training daily.

Image: Alamy

"I think Chelsea have had this before," Bent said on talkSPORT.

"Chelsea fans might correct me. Winston Bogarde. I'm pretty sure, I spoke to Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, he used to live in Holland!

"(He would) get the plane over in the morning, get to training, train, get back on the plane after training, everyday Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink told me this.

"There might be an odd occasion where he would stay over. That's dedication that."

It was said that Claudio Ranieri wanted Bogarde to leave just weeks after he took the Chelsea job, but he ended up honouring his contract until 2004 as he could not find a deal on par with the one he was on at at Stamford Bridge.

Image: Alamy

He made more than £10 million for doing next to nothing and in 2015, shed light on his predicament.

"They had to cut costs," he told The Guardian.

"My situation was not very good and we tried to solve it many ways. Like to maybe go on loan or sell me, or whatever. But in the end it didn’t work out."

He also emphatically denied claims that he would get a plane to training, stating: "Of course not. I don’t understand how people come to these ridiculous stories, or lies or whatever."

Bogarde retired from football just a year after his stint at Chelsea ended and he has worked as assistant coach at Ajax.

His nephew Lamara plays for Aston Villa.

Topics: Chelsea, Premier League

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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