Zola, who moved to Italian Serie B side Cagliari last week after Chelsea failed to come up with an improved offer in time, enjoyed seven trophy-laden years with the Blues and he believes a signing such as Henry is just what is needed to take the club forward.

“He’d be a good man for Chelsea, but I’m not sure he’d be very willing to do it,” said Zola of Henry, who is under contract at Highbury until summer 2007.

“I’ve been surprised by the big names linked with the club.

“Chelsea need to find a player who the young players will look up to, as it’s important to have motivation and create enthusiasm.

“It’s important to find a player with those qualities. And I think that’s a priority for the club.

“If Chelsea do that, they can create the right atmosphere and environment to be successful.”

Despite the euphoria in west London surrounding the arrival of Abramovich and his breathtaking wealth – estimated at £3.8bn (€5.5bn) – there is also a growing air of uncertainty over the future of boss Claudio Ranieri.

Zola urged Abramovich not to make a rash decision on Ranieri, who steered Chelsea to fourth place in the league last season – guaranteeing Champions League action this term.

“I can understand that these people, as they’ve put money in, will be very demanding with the manager and everyone,” he said.

“But hopefully they will also understand that things don’t come straight away in football.

“I’ve seen teams in Italy spend huge amounts of money, not have success and then sack the manager.

“In football, you need time, patience and the club to support the team.

“The new man has a big responsibility on his shoulders. Hopefully, Chelsea are in good hands I hope he does the right things for the fans.”

Zola, 37, was at Stamford Bridge yesterday to say his farewells to Chelsea staff.

But he revealed he would still be a Blues player had the club made their increased contract offer just 48 hours earlier.

Zola, speaking at a specially-arranged Press conference, was asked if he would have stayed had he received an improved offer before July 1.

He said: “Yes. I wasn’t thinking of leaving and had put all my offers on standby.

“But the renewal of my contract went on and on until July 1, when my contract expired.

“Then I had to do something. I couldn’t keep the other people waiting as that would have been disrespectful to them. So I decided to go.

“Chelsea made me a better offer on July 2, when the transaction between the old owners and the new owners happened.

“They came to me with a better offer and that gave me a really bad couple of hours.

“But, unfortunately, it was too late. It wouldn’t have been correct to take it, because Cagliari had followed me for such a long time.

“The renewal of my contract happened at a bad, bad moment. Chelsea were in a bad situation and we couldn’t make an agreement.

“But I’m not putting any blame on Chelsea as they had so many more important things going on than renewing my contract.”