Football on British shores was something of a closed shop at the start of the 1990s, with players from beyond the United Kingdom, even during the early years of the Premier League, a rarity.

Even our closest neighbours France, a short journey across the sea, were sparsely represented in England: Eric Cantona, then of Leeds United, was the country’s sole representative during the Premier League’s inaugural campaign of 1992/93.

More than 30 years on, France is only second to England as the most-represented nation in the competition's history. And change began with an influx of players crossing the Channel in the 90s, with many following the now well-worn path to Stamford Bridge.

The first at Chelsea was Leboeuf, a composed and technically-gifted centre-back who represented a refreshing change from the no-nonsense defenders who had dominated English football.

Like many of those who arrived overseas in that initial wave in 1996, Leboeuf took advantage of a new EU law allowing players to change clubs for free once their contracts expired, and the banning restrictions on the number of foreigners.

Leboeuf admits being the first was not easy – and that he found it difficult not being able to converse with any teammate in his native language. However, in the long-term, it paid off as the defender embraced life in England.

'The Bosman ruling came a few months before and when Ruud [Gullit] called me I was just “yeah, alright, I will come",' remembers Leboeuf.

'I was the first French player to arrive, and there were no French players for a while, until Bernard Lambourde came over.

'I had no French people to speak to and it was 1996, so no social networks, nothing. That was how I learned English so quickly and I discovered another culture. It was for the best.

‘When I got here my English was poor. I spoke a little bit because I took courses for seven years at school, but that is not the best way to learn a language.

'I always read proper newspapers, but I didn’t want to make it too difficult, so I was reading the Daily Mail and I was watching TV with the old teletext 888 subtitles.

‘It’s how I learned and then I was communicating and interacting with different players. I was a pain for everybody, especially Terry Byrne the physio, because I was always asking “how do you say this, what’s the meaning of that?”.

‘It’s interesting to learn a language because you understand a little bit better the culture of the people, and the small differences you need to learn when you want to properly interact with people.

‘Arsenal, with all those French legends, they didn’t speak English, they would just speak French to each other.

'Me, I didn’t have that problem. I learned Italian and I learned English and that was perfect for me.’

Of course, Frank wasn’t alone for long. More Frenchman soon followed him to west London and he featured alongside Laurent Charvet, Didier Deschamps, Bernard Lambourde and Marcel Desailly – who joined shortly after partnering Leboeuf in the heart of the French defence as they beat Brazil in the World Cup final on home soil in 1998.

However, that early lesson on the importance of integrating was never forgotten, and indeed it was one he made sure to pass on to his countrymen when they arrived.

‘It was never like our own group of French players and I did everything to avoid that.

'I remember Gianluca [Vialli], Gianfranco [Zola], Roberto [Di Matteo], Dan Petrescu, who had played in Italy, Ruud as well, the coach, during lunch they were speaking Italian. But Dennis Wise banged on the table and said: “Here, either you speak English or you don’t speak”. I remembered that and thought he was right.

‘So when Marcel came I told him if he wanted to speak French to me then ask me, but I didn’t want the others to think we spoke our language to talk about them or the team.

'I didn’t want them to have the wrong idea about why we were speaking French, so we avoided it. Even if it was just me and Marcel, we would speak in English. That’s just respect. It was very important not to separate ourselves from the other players.

‘I think we had about 15 different nationalities at one point, so it’s a lot of different cultures. In order to get along together you have to give a little bit and take a little bit. It’s what we all did.

'I remember I brought my house a year after coming here, invited all the players to a Christening party there and everyone came. I wanted to say thank you to the players and the club, because it really changed my life in every way.

‘It’s how the club grew so fast, because of the players who came, but also because of John Terry, Dennis Wise, all the British players who took to our ideas as well. We were very professional and I think we brought that and they followed us.

'That’s how the chemistry came along, because everybody agreed to take a little bit of the others and was ready to listen. That’s how we grew together.’

It certainly did the trick and the 90s was a crucial era in Chelsea’s history. A club which had gone a quarter of a century without a major trophy, and had suffered relegations to the second tier in the process, was transformed into one competing for, and winning, silverware again.

All while pointing, Chelsea pointed the way to the international future of football in this country.

It was impossible for Leboeuf to know just how seismic that shift would be when he left his homeland for a new life in London. But once things began to click, the impact he and his teammates were having became obvious.

‘The start was quite an experience but I had heard of most of the players because of the names like Mark Hughes, Dan Petrescu, Dennis Wise, Steve Clarke, Dmitri Kharine.

'I knew those players and when Roberto signed I knew him, of course. Gianluca, Ruud, Gianfranco signed after. I knew all those players and I thought something is going on right now.

‘I didn’t know if it was going to work until we won the FA Cup. I realised it was something big. We partied for an hour-and-a-half at Wembley with the fans. Something was happening there.

'Then, the day after on the Fulham Road, there was 100,000 people or something like that. I just thought: “That’s huge, that’s crazy”.

‘A kind of a chemistry was built from that. After 26 years of winning nothing came the FA Cup, and then after that we won the League Cup, the Cup Winners’ Cup, the European Super Cup. Meanwhile, I won the World Cup.

‘After a couple of years I realised my life had changed, but my life had changed at the same time as the fans’ lives had changed, because we were a successful team now.

'We weren’t just a team, we were a winning team. Like I was a winner now, and before I hadn’t won anything. That’s why I’m completely connected to the Chelsea fans and the history of Chelsea, because we went on the same journey.

‘At the time we didn’t think we were changing things. But when we look back we have to admit, without bragging, that we created the foundation of the new Chelsea. I used to speak to Peter Osgood a lot and he would tell me how the fans had been waiting such a long time to get a new trophy since he won at the beginning of the 70s.

'Within five years we changed the nature of Chelsea. We even had new rivalries because we started to upset Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool because of what we were doing: winning trophies.’

There was no mistaking the Gallic influence on the success of the Blues by the end of the decade, or Chelsea’s influence on the success of Les Bleus, thanks to a couple of iconic photographs demonstrating the way the two teams’ fortunes were intertwined.

There was first Chelsea’s French contingent posing together at Wembley after beating Aston Villa in the 2000 FA Cup final, followed that summer by the international trio of Leboeuf, Desailly and Deschamps recreating the image in Rotterdam, where they had defeated Italy in the final of Euro 2000.

‘It was absolutely fantastic,’ enthuses Leboeuf. ‘It’s funny because we took a picture at Wembley because there was a few French players playing for Chelsea, so for the French fans we took a picture together. So when we won the Euros we took that picture for the Chelsea fans.

‘We were proud of that. I was really proud of winning something with the national team, with being a Chelsea player. It was important for me. I never forgot Chelsea when I was playing international football.

'I did an article for The Times the day before the final saying don’t worry, I won with Chelsea so now I’m going to win with France, and we did!’

But for all he and his fellow Frenchmen’s success at Chelsea during the 90s, it was arguably the legacy they left at Stamford Bridge which was the most important result of their time here.

As Leboeuf left to return to France with hometown club Marseille in 2001, William Gallas and Emmanuel Petit were arriving in west London to continue what he had started.

Since then, the likes of Claude Makelele, Nicolas Anelka, N’Golo Kante and Olivier Giroud have written their own chapters in Chelsea history.

And today there are six Frenchmen in Mauricio Pochettino’s senior squad, including four defenders - Benoit Badiashile, Axel Disasi, Wesley Fofana, Malo Gusto, Lesley Ugochukwu, and Christopher Nkunku.

‘I remember the time when there was only one French guy, me. But I don’t look at it like being more proud of the club because we have French players.

'I like Disasi, I heard him say he wants to make an impact like I did which is very nice. I want to thank him for that, but I don’t care who plays. For me, the club is more important than the players.

‘I had my time. Now it’s up to others. It’s a legacy. If Disasi and Badiashile and the others do their best for the club and bring the club to the top we will love them. I already love them because they signed for Chelsea, but I will love them even more!’

So in this particular club-versus-country debate, it is clearly the Blues rather than Les Bleus who come first for the former centre-back.

However, it is just as clear that if the current vintage at Chelsea can follow the example set by himself, Desailly, Deschamps and others by lifting silverware with club and country, Leboeuf will be one very proud Frenchman.