Paulo Ferreira

Chelsea confirmed the transfer of Paulo Ferreira during Euro 2004, a tournament hosted by his home country, Portugal.

He appeared twice, including as a substitute in the final when Greece amazed the hosts, so it was as a European champion with his club but not his country that Ferreira arrived in west London the day before the squad jetted off to Seattle for that summer’s pre-season tour of the United States.

The transfer fee agreed was 20 million euros, considered a lot then for a full-back, but retrospectively good value for nine years of loyal and dedicated service. The right back gave his first press conference to the media in Seattle, alongside fellow new signings, Didier Drogba and Thiago. He made it known to the media that he was very excited to be at Chelsea and to work under Mourinho once more.

In few days of acclimatising with his new teammates, the Portuguese played his first Chelsea game in a 3-0 victory over Roma in Pittsburgh, completing the full 90 minutes. He played all but six minutes of a 3-2 loss to AC Milan four days later.

His devoted performances gave Mourinho enough assurance to select him ahead of Glen Johnson at right-back for the first game of 2004/05 against Manchester United. It was one of 42 appearances Paulo Ferreira made in all competitions that season as The Blues won the League Cup and ‘ran away’ with the Premier League.

It set the precedent for a trophy-laden spell at Chelsea for Ferreira, who continues to work in the club with the loan players and as an ambassador, while his then coach, Jose Mourinho later left and came back to coach the club few year later before he was replace by Guus Hindik in December 2015.