By Stuart Roach

Zola was top of the Chelsea fans poll as their favourite

It should have been a day of Chelsea celebration, of looking to the future with unprecedented optimism.

Instead, a day that had dawned on Stamford Bridge with the sweet scent of money in the air ended under mournful skies.

Chelsea's saviour was arriving in the shape of a Russian billionaire oil baron. But leaving through the other door was the slick striker who had become a Chelsea legend.

The dawn of a new era had been eclipsed by Black Wednesday.

Not even �140m could compensate for the departure of Gianfranco Zola, the finest import on the richly cosmopolitan Kings Road.

Zola's seven-year itch at Stamford Bridge was intensified when the cash-strapped club failed to scrape together a contract worthy of persuading the 36-year-old not to head home to Sardinia just yet.

Chelsea, saddled with more than �80m of debt, asked their veteran to take a 50% pay cut and even the arrival of new owner Roman Abramovic came too late to scramble a last-minute improvement.

For Chelsea fans, it felt like winning the lottery, then losing the ticket.

Zola has been the Premiership's finest import.

He led by example and they will miss him tremendously Former Chelsea and England keeper Peter Bonetti

Granted, there was the enigmatic Eric Cantona, Manchester United's outstanding foreign buy.

And Arsenal currently boast Arsene Wenger's greatest investment in the shape of Thierry Henry.

But even they must take a back seat to the sublime Zola when the Premiership medals of honour are handed out.

And the little striker confidently rubs shoulders alongside the biggest stars in Chelsea's hall of fame. Jimmy Greaves, Peter Osgood and Alan Hudson all trailed Zola in a recent fans' vote to name Chelsea's greatest ever player.

So too did goalkeeping legend Peter Bonetti, who would have voted for the little Italian himself.

"He has to be their best ever," Bonetti told this website.

"He led by example and they will miss him tremendously.

"When things were going against them he had the ability to turn a game with his exceptional skill and he was a great inspiration on the field."

Bonetti was speaking for the Chelsea fans, with an air of a man mourning a close family relative.

"He will be very sadly missed," Bonetti added.

In seven glorious seasons at Stamford Bridge, Zola played more than 300 games and scored 80 goals, many of them stamped with the hallmark of a genius.

Even at 36, Zola was producing some of the best football of his career, culminating in a nomination for this season's PFA player of the year award.

That may have prompted him to shelve his retirement plans, but Cagliari - and not Chelsea - were the beneficiaries of the striker's change of heart.