I didn't want to leave Chelsea for Leicester City but two transfers left me with no choice

Frank Sinclair is often a forgotten name at Chelsea even though he played a key role in their domestic and European success before their big-money takeover in 2003.

The 52-year-old came through the ranks at Stamford Bridge joining the club as an eleven-year-old having grown up in the London borough of Clapham. He made his debut in 1991 with then manager Bobby Campbell opting to blood some youth into a struggling side.

Sinclair went on to become a mainstay throughout the next decade and played a key role in their 1997 FA Cup victory, the club's first major trophy in 27 years. He was also involved in their Cup Winners Cup triumph the following season and scored in the 1998 League Cup final - before joining this weekend's Premier League opponents Leicester City for £2.55m later that same year.

It was a period of success at Chelsea which came before Roman Abramovich's cash injection in the early noughties. Sinclair left before the takeover but truly believed that it was the success during his time that proved to be a catalyst for future events.

"The highlight was winning the FA Cup, though we won other stuff while I was there, the League Cup – where I scored in the final – the Cup Winners' Cup as well," he explained in an interview with The Independent back in 2008.

"That was the beginning of the success at the club, the FA Cup was special because the fans had been starved for so long, I think it was almost thirty years – David Webb's goal in '70.

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"Chelsea was a fashionable club even before it had the money. Down the King's Road, West London, it had that aura from the days of Alan Hudson and Peter Osgood. It just didn't have the success or the money; now it has all three, which is why it's one of the top clubs in Europe."

The 52-year-old departed Stamford Bridge for Leicester City despite his cup-winning heroics, with the club clearly starting to favour continental talent over local lads.

He continued: "The turning point? When they got rid of me. I thought: 'This club is really turning around'. I'd just scored in a League Cup final, we'd done a double, winning in Europe, and we signed Marcel Desailly that summer and Albert Ferrer from Barcelona.

"They both played in the same positions as me. At the time I was thinking that's what the club has to do, unfortunately for me. Fortunately for me, Martin O'Neill came in with a lot of money to sign me for Leicester and Chelsea accepted it.

"I didn't particularly want to go because Chelsea was all I'd ever known, but before you knew it the young boys were out and international players were in."

Although he was born in London, Sinclair represented Jamaica at international level through his parents who were born in the country. He believes O'Neill was convinced to sign him after his performances at the 1998 World Cup.

His move away was a sign of things to come, with modern-day Chelsea known for splashing the cash on big names rather than putting trust in their famed youth academy. They have produced several great players since Sinclair, but most are given little chance and forced to find success elsewhere.

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