‘Hoddle basically refused to show Gullit any of Chelsea’s facilities – he took him for a posh lunch in Kensington and persuaded him to sign a deal there’: Scott Minto on how Chelsea made a huge transfer splash

Ruud Gullit’s 1995 arrival at Chelsea was one of those rare statement signings that, that made not just rivals clubs sit up and notice, but rivals leagues arch their necks at what was going on in England

The Premier League had completed its third season and was now starting to attract some of Europe’s best players, with the likes of Dennis Bergkamp, Georgi Kinkladze and Tony Yeboah arriving, but in Gullit, Chelsea had bagged themselves the 1987 Ballon d’Or winner and a former European champion with club and country.

But how did Chelsea, who had just finished 11th in the Premier League, manage to land such a star?

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The answer, according to former Blues left-back Scott Minto, was all down to manager Glenn Hoddle.

“That deal would have been impossible without Glenn and his standing in the game,” Minto tells FourFourTwo. “Even so, it can’t have been an easy sell.

“Stamford Bridge was a building site at the time and the training facilities were lower-league level – we’d have to change in the corridors sometimes.

“Glenn basically refused to show Ruud any of the facilities. He took him out for a posh lunch somewhere in Kensington and persuaded him to sign a deal there.

“As players, we were stunned they’d got it over the line. Ruud was an absolute superstar. It was so exciting.

“Once you got over the shock of playing football with Ruud Gullit, you realised what a normal bloke he was. A few of us used to finish training, go to the pub, then end up in a London nightclub.

“We’d often run into Ruud, already in there – he’d come over for a few beers and a chat, then off he’d go. He was absolutely one of the boys.”

Gullit would enjoy a three-year stint at Stamford Bridge, turning out 63 times to end his playing career, before assuming the role of player-manager, when he led the side to the 1996/97 FA Cup.