But he could not gain a work permit and returned home to Australia and Sydney Croatia, the club he started his career at.

Having married a Manchester girl he was able to join Aston Villa in 1992.

And he put in a superb display against United in March 1993, and claimed the number one jersey from Villa veteran from Nigel Spink.

He then helped Villa beat United, and denied them a treble, in the 1994 League Cup Final, which was repeated with a victory over Leeds United in the 1996 final.

He re-joined United in the summer of 1999 on a free Bosman transfer, and kept goal for the two matches in his homeland for a tour of Australia during July of that year.

However, his form and weight let him down as the 1999/2000 season started and he became involved in the United goalkeeping merry-go-round as he, Raimond van der Gouw and the dreaded Massimo Taibi competed for a first team spot.

Some fine European performances made him the man-in-possession towards the end of the season but Ferguson chose Van der Gouw ahead of him in the championship run-in.

With the arrival of Barthez, he faced an even tougher fight for the spot, a challenge said he was willing to take on, while the club indicated that he might be better off elsewhere.

This was proved as Sir Alex Ferguson made him third choice keeper at the club. Sometimes even rookie American stopper Paul Rachubka was ahead of him on the bench!

Eventually United terminated his contract by mutual consent in January 2001 and Chelsea immediately stepped in to land the goalkeeper.

Bosnich said: 'I realise Chelsea haven't won the title since 1955 and over the last 5 or 6 years they've really established themselves as one of the top 3 sides in the country.

'There's no better feeling than after 38 games at the end of the season to know you're the best side in the country, so I'm here to try and win the title with Chelsea.'

It would be October 2001 before injuries finally handed him his Chelsea debut, and the stopper looked back to his best as Chelsea. Despite at 2-0 defeat at Hapoel Tel Aviv in the UEFA Cup on his debut, he bounced back in the Premiership.

However, injury cost him his place in the side and Carlo Cudicini took his chance with both hands.