A former European Championship winner turned down the opportunity to sign for Arsenal at a young age – only to sign for London rivals Chelsea later in his career.
1988 Euros winner Ruud Gullit enjoyed a storied footballing career, predominantly plying his trade in his native Netherlands and Italy.
The Dutchman, known for his ability to play in several different positions, started his journey at HFC Haarlem before being snapped up by Feyenoord in 1982.
After three seasons, Guillit was sold to PSV Eindhoven before moving overseas to become a lynchpin of the hugely successful AC Milan side of the late 1980s and early 1990s, which won three Serie A titles and two European Cups.
However, Guillit’s path to the top could have looked awfully different had he decided to leave the Netherlands and join Arsenal when the Gunners showed interest in him when he was only 17 years old.
‘When I was at HFC Haarlem at the age of 17, I heard that Arsenal wanted to sign me,’ Gullit told Gambling Insider.
‘Liam Brady was a scout at the club at the time, and I was made aware of their interest in bringing me to Highbury. There were talks between the two clubs.
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‘It was a privilege that such a big club were interested in me at that age, but it was too early for me at that stage in my career, so I turned them down.
‘I just didn’t want to move to the club at that particular point in time.
‘I ended up spending a few more years at Haarlem before moving to Feyenoord, which felt like the right move for me.’
While opting to reject a move to the Gunners in his early teenage years, Gullit would eventually find himself in English football for the final three years of his career.
After two seasons at Sampdoria, the Dutchman swapped Serie A for Stamford Bridge, signing for Glenn Hoddle’s side on a free transfer in July 1995.
And in 1996, after Hoddle’s departure to manage the England national team, Gullit was made player-manager by the Blues, leading them to victory in the FA Cup, the club’s first major trophy in 26 years.
Speaking about his decision to move to Chelsea, Gullit previously told the BBC: ‘When I joined Chelsea, in June 1995, the Premier League was very different to the way it is now. I wasn’t the first overseas player to come here, but I was one of the first to arrive with a big name, from a bigger league, such as Serie A.
‘Looking back, that summer was probably the time the Premier League really began to change into the competition it is now, and it had to. Italy was the king then – all the best players were there.
‘English football was very basic in comparison, and the English wanted to have people from outside so they could try to get their game back again to the highest European level.
‘Dennis Bergkamp, David Ginola, Juninho. They all came at the same time as me. The way I saw it, it was an adventure. Personally and professionally, I needed to leave Italy after eight years with AC Milan and Sampdoria and, with the Premier League taking off, England just seemed the right place for a fresh start, at the right time for me to do something new.’
Having spent the prime of his career at Milan, Gullit said the lack of facilities at Chelsea caught him off guard at first.
‘Nobody I spoke to that summer understood why I chose Chelsea,’ he added. ‘I must say I didn’t know much about the club or even that part of town when I went there – it was just because Glenn Hoddle was manager, that’s what persuaded me to go.
‘When I came for the first time to see Stamford Bridge, I was like ‘what the hell kind of stadium is this?’ I was used to playing in the best stadiums in the world, but here there were only two stands. The place wasn’t just a building site, it was a total wreck. You had to walk around on planks of wood.
‘The training ground too, was very different to what I was used to. Chelsea’s facilities now are world class but then they were based at Harlington, which was a school. There was nothing there – just five little locker rooms, and the only thing in any of them was a wooden bench and a hook. That was it.
‘But I loved it. It was almost like I was going back to when I had just started playing, when I was nine years old. It was fantastic.’
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