The summer of ’94
The 1994 World Cup was over. Brazil were champions, having beaten Italy in a goalless final that ended with Roberto Baggio belting the ball high over the crossbar at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
The tournament drew in huge crowds in America, with an average attendance of 68,991 (a record that stood until the most recent World Cup in Qatar) watching some of the world’s best players in action.
Several Premier League managers and scouts would have been part of the crowds because within days of the tournament reaching its conclusion, many of those who had starred for their country were signing for Premier League clubs.
Nottingham Forest were the first club to sign a foreign player from the World Cup, spending £2.5 million on Dutch winger Bryan Roy in mid-July. He had played in all of Holland’s games in the tournament and scored the winner in their final group game against Morrocco.
Tottenham Hotspur were next to dip their toes in the foreign transfer market, signing Romanian star Ilie Dumistrescu from Steau Bucharest. The Romanian side exceeded all expectations at the summer’s tournament, reaching the semi-final for the first time before losing to Italy.
Two days after Ossie Ardiles unveiled Ilie Dumitrescu to the press, Tottenham announced a huge transfer coup. Germany’s Jurgen Klinsmann decided to try his hand at the English game as he signed for the North London club for a mere £2 million from Monaco.
A second Romanian international joined Tottenham in the summer as defender Gheorghe Popescu signed from PSV Eindhoven. Dan Petrescu became the third Romanian to join the Premier League after he joined Sheffield Wednesday from Italian side Genoa.
Coventry City had spent the last week of July trying to convince American Alexei Lalas to join them, but the bearded defender opted to join Padova. On 8th August, the Sky Blues signed another American international instead, with Cobi Jones crossing the Atlantic.
Belgian defender Philippe Albert signed for Newcastle United after the Tynesiders agreed on a fee of £2.6 million with Anderlecht for his services. He was joined by Swiss right back Marc Hottiger, who had played in all of Switzerland’s four games in the US.
Arsenal manager George Graham decided that he would spend £1.8 million on Swedish midfielder Stefan Schwarz. This was the second World Cup in a row that the Scot would sign a Swedish midfielder after the biggest international tournament in world football after Anders Limpar joined the Highbury club four years earlier.
Reigning Double-winners Manchester United hadn’t caught the World Cup bug however, with manager Alex Ferguson deciding that his only signing of the summer would be David May, an English defender from rivals Blackburn Rovers for £1.4 million.
Rovers then used this fee towards signing striker Chris Sutton from Norwich City later in the month for a British record £5 million.
With all of these foreign signings coming into the Premier League, the English game was becoming more global. This summer was the start of an influx of continental signings and it was an exciting time. The game in England had now changed forever.
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