Twelve Italians who called Stamford Bridge home

Ozer McMahon 07:02 15/03/2016
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • In all 10 Italian players have represented Chelsea in the Premier League era, with three having held court in the dressing room as first team manager.

    Looking back over the years, Sport360 have detailed the individual impact each Italian has had at the club.

    Roberto Di Matteo (1996-2002 as player, 2011-12 as coach/manager)

    Di Matteo enjoyed a trophy-laden spell as a player with Chelsea, before returning almost a decade later to repeat the trick in the dugout.

    Signed for a then-club record £4.9m (Dh26m) in 1996 from Lazio, the elegant central midfielder represented Chelsea 175 times and found the net on 26 occasions. He collected two FA Cups, a League Cup, a Charity Shield, a UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and a UEFA Super Cup during Chelsea’s most successful pre-Roman Abramovich period.

    Di Matteo then returned to the club as assistant manager to Andre Villas-Boas in 2011, before taking over the reins when the Portuguese was sacked in March 2012, guiding the club to an FA Cup triumph and a first ever Champions League crown.  Despite this success he was jettisoned just four months into the following campaign.

    GIANFRANCO ZOLA (1996-2003)

    A true hero at Stamford Bridge, the little Italian will go down as one of the club’s greatest ever players.

    Signed as a 30-year-old from Parma in 1996, the attacker repaid his £4.5m (Dh23.9m) price tag and then some, scoring 80 goals in 312 outings during his seven-year stint with the Blues.

    In addition to winning two FA Cups, a League Cup, a Cup Winners’ Cup, a Charity Shield and a UEFA Super Cup, Zola also accumulated many individual accolades including the 1997 Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year Award.

    Zola twice won Chelsea’s Player of the Year gong – in 1998-99 and 2002-03 – and was inducted in the Premier League Hall of Fame in 2006.

    GIANLUCA VIALLI (1996-2000)

    Fresh from winning the Champions League with Juventus, Vialli joined Chelsea in the summer of 1996 on a free transfer and enjoyed success as a player, hitting 40 goals in 78 appearances, and also winning an FA Cup.

    Following the sacking of the manager Ruud Gullit midway through the 1997-98 campaign, the prolific frontman was charged with player/manager duties for the duration of the season, and guided the side to Cup Winners’ Cup and League Cup success.

    Vialli was the first Italian to manage a Premier League side when he took over from Gullit and retired from the game in the summer of 1998 to concentrate solely on management.  He would lead the side to another FA Cup success in his first full season in the dugout, before falling foul of some of the squad’s senior members, and losing his job five games into the 2000-01 season.

    SAM DALLA BONNA (1998-2002)

    An impressive youth, and Italy Under-18 captain, Dalla Bonna was snapped up by Chelsea as a 17-year-old in 1998. After a brilliant season in the reserve team the midfielder graduated to the senior side ahead of the 1999-2000 campaign.

    His breakthrough year came in 2000-01 when he became a mainstay in the Chelsea engine room, before refusing to extend his contract and losing his place in the first-team squad.

    Chelsea decided to cash in on their young asset before his contract expired, selling him to AC Milan for £1m (Dh5.3m) in the summer of 2002 after 55 outings and 6 goals for the Blues.

    PIERLUIGI CASIRAGHI (1998-2000)

    A proven Serie A and international goal scorer, Casiraghi arrived in England in the summer of 1998 amid much fanfare, but the forwards time in London was disappointing on a number of levels.

    Having toiled lucklessly in front of goal, scoring only once in ten outings following his £5.4m (Dh28.7m) move from Lazio, the striker suffered a career ending knee injury; following a clash with West Ham’s Shaka Hislop, the forward severely damaged his cruciate knee ligament.

    Despite 10 surgeries, he never made it back onto the field and the club terminated his contract in March 2000, after which he announced his retirement from the game.

    CARLO CUDICINI (1999-2009)

    A snip at a mere £300,000 (Dh15.9m) from lowly Castel di Sangro, Carlo Cudicini must go down as one of Chelsea’s best value-for-money signings.

    Despite coming in as a back-up ‘keeper in 1999, Cudicini was splitting first-team duties with Ed de Goey  by the end of the 2000-2001 season. The Italian would become the undoubted first-choice starter between 2001 and 2004 (claiming the Chelsea Player of the Year award in 2001-02) before he was displaced by new arrival Petr Cech.

    Cudicini rarely featured over the following five seasons before leaving the club, after 142 appearances, in January 2009 on a free transfer for London rivals Tottenham.

    GABRIELE AMBROSETTI (1999-2003)

    Signed by compatriot Gianluca Vialli in the summer of 1999, the midfielder represented the Blues just 16 times during his four years with the club.

    Dubbed the “Italian Ryan Giggs” by his new manager upon his arrival, Ambrosetti fell a long way short of emulating the Welshman.  He made his debut against Aston Villa as a substitute, and managed only one goal for the club – in a Champions League tie with Galatasary.

    Although he remained on the books for four years, Ambrosetti spent most of his time with Chelsea out on loan at Piacenza and Vicenza, before joining the former permanently in the summer of 2003.

    CHRISTIAN PANUCCI (2000-01)

    With a CV taking in some of Europe’s most famous cities including Milan, Madrid and Rome, the shortest sojourn of Christian Pannuci’s career came in London.

    The right-back joined Chelsea on loan from Inter Milan in 2000, but despite his impressive pedigree he was seen very much as back-up for the first team.

    He only represented the club on 10 occasions during his one season in blue before heading to Monaco upon completion of his one year deal.

    CLAUDIO RANIERI (2000-04)

    The first manager to stick his hands into the Roman Abramovich treasure trove of cash, Claudio Ranieri spent four seasons on the Stamford Bridge bench. Famed for his policy of regularly rotating his team, the Italian was dubbed ‘The Tinkerman’ by members of the press – a nickname which still sticks today.

    While Ranieri didn’t break the glass ceiling with Chelsea, he secured the club Champions League football ahead of the 2003 campaign, which ultimately paved the way for Abramovich to buy the club.

    When he left the Bridge in summer 2004, the Italian was standing over a 54 percent winning record from his 199 games in charge, which was the highest return of any manger who had been in charge for over a hundred games in the club’s history until that point.

    MARCO AMBROSIO (2003-04)

    A bona fide journeyman, Ambrosio arrived at Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2003 to play the role of back up to first choice Carlo Cudicini.

    Having represented a host of minor Italian clubs, Chelsea became the 10th club of the then 30 year olds career.  Thanks to injuries, Ambosio did get a run of games in the Chelsea first team in the latter part of the 2003 season, including an appearance in a Champions League quarter-final.

    Ambrosio lost his place to a fit again Cudicini with his appearance tally stuck on eight, however, and was shown the door when Petr Cech arrived in the summer of 2004.

    FABIO BORINI (2007-11)

    Borini joined Chelsea’s youth academy aged 16 in the summer of 2007 from Bolonga, and quickly made an impression in the reserve league, scoring 10 times in 11 games in the 2008-09 season.

    He featured for the senior side for the first time in September 2009, when replacing Didier Drogba in the closing stages of a Premier League game against Tottenham – his only league appearance in blue.

    Borini played a total of times tines in all competitions for Chelsea, before going on loan to Swansea and helping them gain promotion to the Premier League in 2011. The striker left Chelsea for Parma on a free transfer in the summer of 2011, but has since returned to England with Sunderland, via Liverpool, for a combined fee of £24.5m (Dh130m)

    CARLO ANCELOTTI (2009-11)

    Having seen his club acquire two Premier League trophies in his early years at the helm, the Champions League became Roman Abramovich’s obsession. Having seen a number of managers fall short in Europe’s elite competition, the Russian turned to a perceived specialist in Carlo Ancelotti, who had won it twice with AC Milan, to try and secure Chelsea’s maiden European crown.

    The convivial Italian took the Premier League by storm, leading Chelsea to the summit in swashbuckling style; the Blues became the first team to score over 100 goals in a single season in the process.

    Despite finishing as runners up the following campaign, however, Ancelotti was dispensed with for failing to make an impact in Europe. Ancelotti’s 61 percent winning record is second in club history only to Jose Mourinho during his first stint in charge and Avram Grant (both 67 percent).

    Recommended