Yeah, sure. Opponents knew who Gianfranco Zola was when he signed for Ruud Gullit’s Chelsea from Parma in November 1996. But knowing a player and knowing how to contain him are two very different things. No one ever quite lit up that gentle difference so flagrantly as Zola.
In 1996, Zola was a new beast in the Premier League; an unprecedented combination of footballing intelligence, a low centre of gravity and dancing feet. Watch grainy videos of Zola on YouTube, and it’s Zola's complete jurisdiction over direction that is so intoxicating; how effortlessly he sent defender after defender barrelling in one direction before sashaying past them in various mercurial thrills, a rush of thick, dark hair and billowing shirt sleeves. It was the gleeful effervescence of a footballing grim reaper.
For a fee of £5.6million, Zola provided entertainment not only for Chelsea fans but for fans across the League. Across 229 Premier League appearances for Chelsea, Zola scored 59 goals and provided 42 assists, a reflection of how Zola’s creativity was as devastating as his goalscoring, despite it providing a raft of goal compilations on social media.
Zola’s vision was often unrivalled, and the speed at which the Italian processed the game and the class that permeated those decisions made him a particular breed of nightmarish playmaker, one capable of drifting through space with the ball before splitting defences to tee up his teammates in dangerous areas.
Zola's ability to flash through crowded boxes and appear on the other side with the ball still tied to his feet infatuated as much as infuriated. In February 1997, after spiriting the ball around Manchester United’s defence in the penalty area before slotting past goalkeeping Peter Schmeichel, Zola was described by Alex Ferguson as a “clever little so-and-so”. This was only the beginning.
Zola played an integral role in Chelsea’s resurgence in 1996-97, helping them to FA Cup glory in a 2-0 Wembley victory over Middlesbrough. In his second season with the Blues, he helped them to three more trophies in the League Cup, Super Cup and Cup Winners' Cup, the latter in which he scored the game-winner 30 seconds after coming on as a second-half substitute against Stuttgart.
Zola led Chelsea to their first appearance in the Champions League in 1999-2000, offering the club’s fanbase a first taste of the competition that, in a few years' time, would become a regular aspect of the season calendar.
It is reflective of the standards and expectations that Zola inspired at Chelsea, and why, as a pre-Abramovich-era signing, that he is regarded as a special kind of legend.
After six years with Chelsea, Zola eventually returned to Italy. But in his final season in London he relished a renaissance, scoring 16 goals and winning the club’s player of the season award, all of which was a deserved kind of movie magic for a player who defied logic on the pitch until his final minute in a Chelsea shirt.
During Zola’s last competitive appearance on the final day of the season, he left four Liverpool players for dust with his characteristic hip swivelling dribbles. Both sets of fans applauded the sight. It is the very least he deserved.
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