Factbox on Argentine striker Hernan Crespo, who joined Chelsea from Inter Milan on Tuesday

Born: July 5, 1975 in Florida, suburb of Buenos Aires

1993: Makes River Plate debut and goes on to score 13 goals in 25 league matches in 93/94 season. Fans call him "Valdanito" (little Valdano) after 1986 World Cup-winning forward Jorge Valdano because of his similar looks, build and running style to Real Madrid's present sporting director

December - helps River Plate win the Apertura league title, the second of two championships held in Argentina in the year

1994: Helps River win Apertura title again

1995: February - wins first Argentina cap in friendly against Bulgaria in Mendoza but has to wait 16 months for second cap and more than two years for first Argentina goal

1996: Helps River Plate win the Libertadores Cup, the South
American club championship, scoring twice in the home leg of the
final in Buenos Aires

August: Wins Olympic silver medal with Argentina team at
Atlanta Games, finishing the tournament as top scorer with six
goals

Leaves River, where he finished with 24 goals in 62 leagues games, for Parma in Italy for $4 million

October: Makes Serie A debut in Parma's 2-1 home defeat by
Perugia

1997: April - scores first Argentina goal in 2-1 World Cup
qualifier victory over Ecuador in Buenos Aires

May - helps Parma finish runners-up in Serie A, scoring 12 goals in 27 matches

1998: June: member of Argentina's World Cup squad in France as Gabriel Batistuta's understudy, making one substitut appearance in the second round match against England in St Etienne

1999: Parma win Italian Cup

May - Parma win UEFA Cup with Crespo scoring opening goal in
3-0 final victory over Olympique Marseille in Moscow

2000: ends Parma career with 22 goals in 34 matches in his last season for a total of 62 goals

Breaks world transfer record when he signs for newly crowned Italian champions Lazio for $54.1 million

2001: May - ends first season at Lazio as top scorer in Serie A with 26 goals in 32 matches

Helps Argentina secure berth at the 2002 World Cup finals with nine goals in 13 qualifying games

2002: Argentina coach Marcelo Bielsa's preference not to play Crespo and Batistuta together up front leads to stories, denied by both, that they do not get on and hate each other

June - plays in his second World Cup in Japan, coming on as a substitute for Batistuta in all three group matches, scoring the equaliser against Sweden as the favourites are eliminated and leaving the pitch at Sendai in tears

September: Signs for Inter Milan as replacement for the departed Ronaldo, joining for $40 million euros

2003: January - having scored nine goals for Inter in the Champions League in the first half of the season, damages knee ligaments during Serie A match against Modena, making a comeback
in April

August 21 - with 38 caps and 18 goals under his belt, named in Argentina squad for opening World Cup qualifier against Chile in Buenos Aires on September 6

August 26 - signs for Chelsea for 16.8 million pounds ($26.28 million) in a four-year deal.

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