The man who started it all, Gianfranco Zola - written by Demitris Lazou Nickname: "The little magician" Career: Nuorese Torres Napoli Parma Chelsea Cagliari National team: Italy Managerial career: Italy U21 (assistant) West Ham United Cagliari Al-Arabi Birmingham City Chelsea (assistant) The inaugural player of this list goes to the man who made me fall in love with football. Gianfranco Zola. I was born in south London in 1991 and it didn't take my father long to start immersing me in the world of football, specifically with Chelsea. He took me to my first game in 1994 when I was just 3 years old, and it was only a couple of years later that the Sardinian joined and my love affair with football began. At the time Manchester United had "King Eric" Cantona, Arsenal had the "Non- flying Dutchman" Dennis Bergkamp, and now we had our own magician.  Zola was simply phenomenal. Elegant, flamboyant, with a relationship with the ball like no one I'd seen before. Later on in life I learnt that he had played under the tutelage of the late great Diego Maradona at Napoli. I remember in his debut season for Chelsea, Zola showed why he was worth the £4.5m, spearheading us to an FA Cup win where he assisted during the final and on the way scored vital goals against Liverpool and Wimbledon. The goal against Wimbledon was honestly incredible and I highly advise every reader to go and watch it on YouTube. His ability to control the ball with a back-heel whilst at running and full speed and then have the ability to decelerate and turn around completely in a split-second to twist the defender and score.  Zola was in fact so good that 96/97 season, that he won the FWA Footballer of the Year and is the only player to have won that award without playing a full season (he joined Chelsea in November 1996).  His most famous moment came in 2002 against Norwich in the FA Cup, where he scored a back-heel goal in mid-air from a corner-kick. It was truly outrageous and till this day is still mentioned as being one the greatest goals in FA Cup history.  Gianfranco spent 7 years dazzling us in West London and beyond before leaving for Cagliari in his homeland of Sardinia, Italy. He cemented his name in Chelsea and Premier League folklore, so much so that he was awarded "Officer of the Order of the British Empire" (OBE) in 2004. The icing on the cake to confirm his legendary status. In the summer of 2003, Zola decided to move clubs and it just so happened that Roman Abramovich became the new owner of Chelsea. I distinctly remember reading that Abramovich was a keen admirer of Zola and wanted him to stay at Chelsea. However Zola had already agreed terms with Cagliari, so Abramovich done something unprecedented and tried to buy the entire Serie A club, Cagliari, in order to get Zola back! That didn't happen in the end, but it shows how fond everyone was of Zola.   I followed his career to Italy, and despite being 37 when he joined Cagliari, he was instrumental in guiding them to promotion to the Serie A and the following season his parting gift was to score a crucial double against Juventus to keep Cagliari from relegation. A truly exceptional footballer and beloved by all fans of the beautiful game.  I'll save the best till last; a photo (left) of Zola and me when I had the honour of being mascot for Chelsea on 21st September 1997.  If you ever read this, thank you Gianfranco for making me fall in love with football. It has shaped my life and my career.