FourFourTwo UK – September 2019

You joined Chelsea from Zaragoza in 1997

and have described it as the most important

move of your career. Why?

Because I was 29, I’d been at Zaragoza for

seven years and I could have retired there and

had a lovely life in Spain. The decision was big

• it wasn’t easy. But it proved to be the right
  decision because I learned so many things.
  I enjoyed the relationship with the supporters
  in English football, and my life completely
  changed. I learned English, and my kids were
  four and two years old at the time. They had
  a great education in England. Now, home for
  me is London.
  Why did you decide to join Chelsea?
  When they called and there was a possibility
  of coming here, I started looking at everything.
  Seeing that Ruud Gullit, Roberto Di Matteo,
  Gianfranco Zola, Gianluca Vialli, Dan Petrescu,
  Frank Leboeuf and Dennis Wise were there,
  I thought, ‘I want to play with them’. They
  were playing in the FA Cup final just before
  everything was agreed, and I was supporting
  the club like I’d already signed because it was
  a way of playing in Europe the following year.
  We ended up winning the Cup Winners’ Cup in
  my first season.
  What do you remember about the day you
  were unveiled?
  It was my first time inside Stamford Bridge
  and I remember arriving in shirt, trousers and

brown shoes. They put me in a Chelsea shirt

and started taking pictures, then they saw the

guy working on the pitch – it was summer –

and they said, ‘Come on, jump on the tractor!’

I said, ‘No!’ They said, ‘Yeah, yeah, because

you’re like a box-to-box player!’ I was trying to

say to the translator, ‘I don’t like this, it’s not

me’. But he said, ‘Come on, you’ve just arrived,

do it’. I remember jumping on the tractor and

being embarrassed. The next day, when I saw

the pictures, oh my God... it was embarrassing!

Ruud Gullit was the manager – what do you

remember about him?

My first official game: the Charity Shield at the

old Wembley. Coming to England, you struggle

with the pace of the game – a lot! I was trying

to get forward, we lost the ball, then the ball

was going the other way. When I got back,

we’d already recovered the ball, so I was out

of the game again! At half-time Ruud said,

‘Stop, stand still for a minute, get into the flow

of the game’. I said ‘I’m trying!’ That was the

key, to start thinking. I started watching more

games, and learning.

What was your highlight at Chelsea?

Everyone remembers certain goals, but for me

the one I scored against Real Madrid in the

Super Cup final was very important. It was

getting into my head that I always scored, but

never in finals. I was thinking ‘Why?’ But I think

the highlight of my time at Chelsea was the

InterviewChrisFlanagan

Chelsea’sUruguayanhero

rememberswhentheBlues

pitchedupattheinfamous

AliSamiYenStadiumin

Istanbul– andwon5-0

TEAMS

Grenoble

River Plate (Montevideo)

Zaragoza

Chelsea

Tottenham

Uruguay

GUS POYET

“ WE ARRIVED In

ISTAn BUL, An D THE

GALATASARAY

FAn S WAn TED TO

KILL DEnnIS WISE”