Gianfranco Zola’s two-season spell in his homeland was a textbook football swan song.
Things could hardly have gone better.
Towards the end of the 2002–03 season,
Gianfranco Zola had decided to bring his time
with Chelsea to a close.
He had enjoyed, to the surprise of many, a
remarkable rejuvenation over that final
campaign, recording his highest ever Premier
League goal tally (14) while providing several
moments of his usual magic. That lob against
Everton was a notable highlight.
When summer came around, however, things
got a little more complicated.
Zola, 36 years old, agreed to a one-year deal
with Cagliari, the principle football team on the
Italian island of Sardinia, his birthplace.
It would be his first action for a Sardinian club
since 1989, when he had played for Sassari
Torres in the Italian third tier, and a welcome
return home for a player admired all the way
from Knightsbridge to Nuoro.
But then Roman Abramovich turned up at
Chelsea with his bags of cash.
Although Zola had already agreed in principle
his move to Cagliari, Abramovich was desperate
to keep the club icon around.
“Abramovich sent Zola a fax offering him
£3million [per year],” said Massimo Cellino,
then president of Cagliari and future scourge of
Leeds United. “I have seen it with my own
eyes.”
Fortunately for Zola’s admirers in Italy, the
Russian billionaire could persuade neither club
nor player.
“I got another call from Abramovich on
Thursday, this time offering me a million
pounds to call off the deal,” Cellino added. “I
told him no straight away.”
To this second rebuff, Chelsea’s new owner
made one final offer — though it is unclear how
exactly he expected it to work. He asked if he
could buy Cagliari, the club, in its entirety.
The answer, again, was a no.
Zola stuck with his decision to play for his local
side, explaining that his “reputation with the
Sardinian people was at stake”.
And that reputation was about to improve
tenfold.
Young-po Reporters 