A quarter of a century ago, in June 2000, Chelsea were in the market for a new striker after a shortage of goals had cost us in the previous campaign. Chis Sutton’s move to Stamford Bridge hadn’t panned out as planned and George Weah’s loan from AC Milan had come to an end.

The Blues actually ended up signing two that month, and the partnership between Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen would prove pivotal, but it was the former who truly hit the ground running on his arrival in west London.

Hasselbaink was seen as something of a sure thing, with a CV showing 34 Premier League goals in two seasons at Leeds United before cementing his status as one of Europe’s most prolific goalscorers in Spain with Atletico Madrid.

As Chelsea director Colin Hutchinson rather bluntly put it when news of our interest broke over the summer: ‘He is a player of proven quality. He has shown that he can score goals in the Premier League and his scoring record in Spain is quite amazing, with over 30 goals this season in a poor side that was relegated.’

Blues manager Gianluca Vialli – who knew a thing or two about world-class strikers – had initially tried to sign Hasselbaink the previous summer, only to be told Leeds were not prepared to sell to a Premier League rival. This time he would get his man.

We managed to fight off interest from top clubs in Spain and elsewhere, although it required us to match the British record £15m Newcastle United had paid for Alan Shearer four years earlier. It would turn out to be money well spent.

‘I had several other offers but I wanted to come here and am looking forward to next season,’ announced Hasselbaink on his arrival.

‘When I heard Chelsea were interested, I was very pleased and hoped the deal would go through. I enjoyed my time in English football and I am happy to be back at a great club like Chelsea, who are very ambitious. I hope I can make Chelsea stronger and I'm going to give 100 per cent.’

The Dutch international wasted no time turning those words into action, as it took him just 22 minutes of his first appearance to find the net, opening the scoring in our 2-0 Charity Shield win over Manchester United in the last-ever club match to be played at the old Wembley Stadium.

Jimmy also demonstrated he could more than handle the physicality of English football after his year away, as he unsettled United captain Roy Keane by going toe-to-toe with him in some full-blooded challenges, the Irishman’s frustration and fraying temper ultimately seeing him sent off.

From there, Hasselbaink was one of Chelsea’s key players, with no one ending the season with more than his 35 league starts for the Blues. He scored on his Premier League debut too, finding the net from the penalty spot in our opening win at home against West Ham United.

However, three goals in his next 10 matches marked a barren period, at least by the standards he would go on to set. That came as Vialli left his post as manager and was replaced by another Italian, Claudio Ranieri. It was an open secret that Hasselbaink was less than pleased by the departure of the man who had been so keen to bring him here.

Our striker proved to be viewed as just as essential to the team by the new manager in the dugout as he had been to his predecessor, though, and many of Hasselbaink’s best performances would come under Ranieri.

Any disgruntlement seemed to be behind him when the striker netted four goals in a 6-1 demolition of Coventry City, his second standing out in particular: a strong solo run after picking up the ball near the halfway line. Gianfranco Zola got the other two, as their partnership began to bloom.

Two more in a 3-0 thrashing of Tottenham Hotspur a week later cemented his status as the Chelsea fans’ new hero, and Hasselbaink was flying. His displays would only get better as the season went on and his momentum snowballed, underlined by a run of three goals in as many games in February, including a stunner against Man Utd.

The conclusion to the 2000/01 season truly demonstrated the quality of striker Chelsea had on our hands, though, and his importance to the team. In our final three matches of the campaign, the Blues scored six goals. Five came from the boot of Hasselbaink.

Two of them arrived in the space of as many minutes against Everton, as he singlehandedly turned a potential 1-0 defeat into a 2-1 victory with a pair of excellent finishes. Two more impressive strikes then earned us a 2-2 draw with Liverpool.

At Manchester City on the final day, Hasselbaink set up Dennis Wise’s opener with a back-heel before blasting in the winner himself, ensuring European qualification for the Blues while allowing our opponents no last consolation as they dropped down to the second division.

That was Hasselbaink’s 23rd Premier League goal of the season, leaving the likes of Thierry Henry and Michael Owen trailing in his wake, meaning he would receive the Golden Boot award for the competition’s top scorer and Vialli’s striker problem had been decidedly solved, even if it was a different Italian manager who was set to reap the benefits.