From mummy's boy to most wanted man

'He is an out-and- out left winger who is extremely quick. He has a superb left foot, is a great dribbler and has the vision to pick killer passes. For someone of his age, he really is a complete player. The only thing he lacks is experience, otherwise he has it all.'

Robben has won four caps and scored two goals since his debut for Holland in April last year as well as netting seven times in 21 games for PSV this season. In his first full season last year his goal tally of 12 helped his club make the Champions League and he was voted young player of the year in Holland by his fellow professionals.

The glamorous world of Roman Abramovich's Chelsea will be a contrast to four years ago, when he was a promising but skinny winger with Groningen earning £3,500 a month on a youth contract and continuing his schooling.

He scored 50 goals as a playmaker for the youth side then made a dream debut as a winger for the first team, terrorising the Feyenoord defence in a shock 1-0 win.

He must have felt he had hit the jackpot after his move two years ago to PSV when he was paid £3,500 per week. Cynics would suggest that an astronomical rise to around £40,000 a week at Chelsea must be the main reason for his defection. The boy would disagree.

'I had some really good conversations with people at Chelsea,' he said. 'They explained exactly how they thought about the future. Their vision is to build on young players. After a few meetings I felt more and more enthusiastic about the club. I spoke to the owner and manager of Chelsea in Eindhoven two weeks ago and they told me they wanted to win major trophies.'

In the cut-throat environment of football, Robben has chosen to retain his father as his chief adviser and it was Hans Robben who was actively involved in all the talks with Manchester United and Chelsea. Robben senior was so impressed by Sir Alex Ferguson's caring sales pitch that he was quoted in Dutch newspapers as saying that Arjen 'would play for Chelsea over my dead body'.

However, son was quick to defend father, claiming: 'My dad was a bit misinterpreted in the Press. At that time, we were just thinking about PSV and Man United.

His coach at PSV, Guus Hiddink, endorsed the notion that moving to London was now a far more attractive prospect for his young protege.

'Arjen is a very mature player for a 20-year-old, he just had to grab this magnificent chance,' said Hiddink. 'Chelsea were a bit of a rough, wild club in the summer, but they certainly have engaged people with outstanding knowledge about the football world. Their structure is much more in balance now.'

Although he will not move until the summer, Robben soon got the treatment from his Eindhoven team-mates. Now they call him Robski.