“Lost a real one” – Some Chelsea fans react as £13.5m January departure turns on the style

Chelsea fans lament on Twitter over selling Mario Pasalic to Atalanta

Amidst all the hype regarding the signings of Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner, the departure of one man in January was forgotten by a vast majority of Chelsea fans.

You cannot be faulted if you have not heard of Mario Pasalic. The Croatian international spent six years at Chelsea and yet did not make a single appearance for the club.

He eventually left for Atalanta this January for £13.5m. In retrospect, it represents a heady profit on a player who originally cost us just £3m. It also raised funds for us to spend in what looks to be a busy summer.

But it appears that in order to buy fuel, we have sold the car. The 25-year-old had shown during his loan spell in Serie A that he has the ability to play at the highest level.

Now no more in Chelsea colours, he showcased just what the club could have had but chose not to keep. As the Blues huffed and puffed to a 1-0 win over bottom-placed Norwich City, Pasalic was turning on the style against Brescia.

The midfielder scored a hat-trick on the night to take his side second only behind Juventus. This takes Pasalic’s tally this season to 11 goals and 7 assists in 39 appearances in all competitions.

The Croatian is a part of an Atalanta team that boasts of the best attack in the Italian league. The signs of his evolution were already there before Chelsea decided to part with him.

The Blues are hoping to go big for Kai Havertz. It appears that they already had a similar player in their ranks before they chose to sell him off for peanuts.

A number of Chelsea fans took to Twitter to react to Pasalic’s performance. We take a look at a few of them below.

Twitter reacts to former Chelsea star Mario Pasalic’s hattrick

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