7. Ruud Gullit
Cost: Free Transfer Appearances: 64 Goals: 7 Ruud was a pretty great foreign import purely on the basis of his fantastic hair, making him resemble the long lost third member of Milli Vanilli. Although his success on the pitch at Stamford Bridge was, in some ways, quite limited, he finished runner up to Eric Cantona for the 1996 Footballer of the Year. He was also one of a few stars who came to symbolise the foreign revolution along with players like Arsenals Dennis Bergkamp, paving the way for a lot of the players in this list to be trusted in their new, English environment. Gullit's career before Chelsea was amazing by anyone's standards. He won 12 honours over 2 spells at AC Milan, including back to back European Cup wins, sharing the team sheet with the likes of Marco Van Basten and Paulo Maldini. He was also named FIFA world player of the year twice, amongst a variety of other awards. With this in mind, it is pretty easy to see how the player could contribute greatly to a new, more exotic image of Chelsea from the mid 1990s. Sources:
thechels.info
6. Gianluca Vialli
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vla6-1vGUYg Cost: Free transfer Appearances: 88 Goals: 40 Vialli cost Chelsea nothing when he signed from Juventus in 1996, and for that money, the return of 4 trophies including 2 in Europe was pretty fruitful. He would also go on to manage the club with some success, notably the FA Cup win of 2000. A bit like Ruud Gullit (who he replaced as manager), Vialli's reputation in the game would help the fans warm to him; an enigmatic character that you instantly associate with Chelsea Football Club. His time at the club was an exciting one for Chelsea fans, as he contributed to a fresh brand of football alongside players like Gianfranco Zola and Didier Deschamps.