He never broke into the Chelsea team, making 33 league appearances in seven years, and spent two loan spells at Crystal Palace, one at Borussia Mönchengladbach, and two at Birmingham City.

He joined German side Hannover 96 in July 2008 on a free transfer, but once again struggled with form and injury problems, and he left the club in 2011, having made 44 league appearances.

This was followed by an unsuccessful season back in England, this time with Leeds United; 15 league games failed to yield a single goal.

[4] Born in Steinfurt,[5] Germany, and considered one of the most talented Finnish footballers of all time, Forssell made his Veikkausliiga debut for HJK at the age of just 16.

[2] His goal-scoring form for Finland's youth teams made him a target for a host of Europe's top clubs, and in 1998, the 17-year-old striker was snapped up by Chelsea[6] who at the time were managed by Gianluca Vialli.

[9] However, when Chelsea signed Chris Sutton for £10 million, Forssell was loaned out twice to Crystal Palace[10] of the then First Division, scoring 16 league goals in just over 50 appearances.

[11] Forssell found it hard to find a place in the Chelsea first team with Gianfranco Zola, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Tore Andre Flo and Eiður Guðjohnsen, who were all ahead of him in the pecking order.

[9] After initially impressing new manager Claudio Ranieri, scoring in four consecutive games,[12] he was sent out on loan again and had spells at Borussia Mönchengladbach[13] of the German Bundesliga[14] and twice to Birmingham City of the Premier League.

[21] In the summer of 2005, Forssell joined Birmingham on a three-year deal for a fee of £3.5 million,[22] after Chelsea decided that he did not figure in their long-term plans.

[24] In May 2008, following the club's relegation from Premier League, Forssell signed a pre-contract agreement to join Hannover 96 on a free transfer when his Birmingham contract expired at the end of June.

[25][26] On his pre-season debut for Hannover, he scored 10 goals including an eight-minute hat-trick in one friendly game against amateurs FC Boffzen.

[33] On 29 October 2012, it was announced that Forssell would be returning to Finland after spending 14 years abroad, signing a two-year contract with his former club HJK.