In the years that followed Roman Abramovich's purchase of Chelsea in 2003, the Stamford Bridge outfit spent a number of seasons shelling out top dollar for the best talent in world football and for a while, the extravagant spending paid off as Jose Mourinho delivered back-to-back Premier League titles.
However, at a similar time when Mourinho departed the club, Chelsea found themselves in a position where they needed to start building for the future and an array of youngsters began to head to West London, despite what seemed to be the slim possibility of ever breaking into the senior setup. Many of the incomings have either moved on or been loaned out to a club in Europe, but for one player, his switch to England at a relatively young age has paid off.
When Nemanja Matic signed for Chelsea in 2009 - either on the request of Carlo Ancelotti or one of the club's scouts - it wasn't considered a major coup. The midfielder, then just 21 years of age, had spent the previous two seasons being a virtual ever-present for Slovakian club Kosice, but despite regularly featuring in the first team, it was never considered that he would become a household name in the Premier League.
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After just three first-team appearances in his opening year at the club, Matic was loaned out to Vitesse, but upon his return, he dropped back into the reserves with no future under new coach Andre Villas-Boas. Despite his lack of action, Portuguese giants Benfica saw something in Matic that led to them requesting the Serbian as a make-weight in the deal that saw David Luiz move to the Blues in a £21m transfer. At the time, it was considered that Chelsea had failed with another one of their youthful acquisitions from Europe.
However, on this day in 2014, after netting nine times in 98 appearances in Portugal, Mourinho identified Matic as one of the missing links in his Chelsea lineup and promptly spent £21m - ironically the same fee that was involved in the part-exchange deal with Luiz - to acquire Matic's services on a five-and-a-half-year deal. The transfer was understandably met with caution by Chelsea's supporters, but over the past 12 months, it has proved to be one of Mourinho's shrewdest moves in his managerial career.
After making his second Chelsea debut as a substitute against Manchester United, Matic was drafted into the team to take on Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium. It was a bold display of faith from Mourinho, but it was a move that brought huge rewards as Matic helped overpower their opponents' midfield with a performance that included strength, tactical nous and a show of his attacking capabilities with a venomous strike from 30 yards that clattered Joe Hart's crossbar.
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Ever since that Monday evening in Manchester, Matic has effectively been untouchable in Chelsea's engine room. His arrival saw game time dry up for the likes of Luiz, John Obi Mikel and Ramires before he found a regular midfield partner in Cesc Fabregas, who signed from Barcelona in the summer. It's a partnership that sees both men complement each other's games and was partly responsible for Chelsea's dominance at the top of the Premier League table during the first half of this campaign.
Since making his return, Matic has made 48 appearances in all competitions, with all but five of those coming in the Premier League and Champions League, with his development under Mourinho seeing him make the transition from bit-part player to one of the first names on the team sheet. The one occasion when Matic wasn't on that team sheet - away at Newcastle United - they lost.
In football, things change on a daily basis, but as it stands, after establishing himself as one of the most effective defensive midfield players in Europe, it seems a certainty that Matic will be patrolling the middle third of the pitch at Stamford Bridge for years to come.
Darren Plant
