A genuine superstar when he joined Leeds United in 1995, the Swedish forward arrived as the most expensive foreign player ever.
Under Howard Wilkinson and with Brolin joining the squad, the Whites were expected to mount a title challenge.
Instead, Brolin struggled with lingering injuries and weight – he was even voted as the club's worst ever player by fans.
The forward had come fourth in Ballon d'Or voting in 1994 after helping Sweden reach the semi-final at that year's World Cup in the USA.
But within four years he would retire from football, aged just 28, after several controversies at Leeds and injury-hit spells back at Parma and with Crystal Palace.
However, Brolin's life did not stop when he quit the beautiful game – in fact, he's been just as successful outside the game, although in a rather surprising field… vacuum cleaners.
Brolin is no James Dyson, sadly.
He was introduced to Swedish inventor Goran Edlund in 1997.
Edlund, who had been unemployed only three years earlier, had developed a vacuum cleaner nozzle that was lighter, cheaper, more efficient and more manoeuvrable than traditional nozzles.
It has no brushes and can even be rinsed with water.
Brolin became a 50 per cent partner and in the 20 years since the brand has become one of the most popular in Sweden.
The Twinner, as it is called, sells more than 130,000 products each year, with the company worth millions of pounds.
It is for sale in the UK and across Europe and, after Twinner won a piracy battle against two rival firms a couple of years ago, only continues to grow.
Brolin revealed it was not a hard decision to retire at an age when many players are at their peak.
He told FourFourTwo earlier this year: "If you want to continue playing at a high level you’ve got to train every single day, but I wasn’t so keen to keep doing that.
"I had other projects in my head – when I stopped playing, an inventor came up to me with his new idea about vacuum cleaners and I opened that company.
"If by the December of that year I’d wanted to play again, I would have come back.
"But that feeling never came and now it’s 20 years ago.
"Everyone says 28 is young to retire, but it depends on what you’ve done in your 28 years as a footballer.
"I’d done quite a lot."
Brolin added: "Life is too short to do boring stuff – if something isn’t fun, then I won’t do it.
"Being a footballer stopped being fun for me, so I stopped playing.
"A lot of players kid themselves that they enjoy it just to stay a part of the football circus, but I’m not that kind of person and I had other ways to have fun in my life."
Brolin is very clearly having lots of fun – his social media shows Brolin with his trademark blond locks and big grin loving life.
He is often pictured in the swimming pool he has in his back garden and playing golf, padel and skiing during the winter.
Brolin loves to spend time on Lake Malaren, part of which backs onto his house, while he has even been spotted in full ice hockey gear.
Kind-hearted Brolin gives a big part of Twinner's earnings to charity.
He has a deal in place with Bris, a children's rights society in Sweden, with 30 per cent of the sale price going directly to the charity.
Brolin is also involved in property and is believed to have other business interests.
He previously had stakes in pharmaceutical and catering firms, although it's not clear if he is still an investor in those fields.
The former Palace man is also a love of horses and has owned racehorses throughout his life.
At the turn of the century, he had been a regular poker player, even recording top 50 finishes at world events, but no longer plays professionally.
Brolin has said he has no regrets joining Leeds, despite the way it turned out.
He said that Wilkinson had promised him a central midfield role to convince him to sign, but eventually spent much of his time playing as a No 9 or on the right of midfield.
The devastating foot injury that had ended his time with Parma was clearly still having an impact on him at Elland Road.
Desperate to leave Leeds, he gave up his £12,000-a-week wages to join FC Zurich on loan, playing for only £800-a-week.
After Wilkinson was sacked and George Graham came in, Brolin had a chance at a clean slate, but soon messed it up.
He was cut from a pre-season tour after turning up an hour late to training – because a bird crashed into his car windscreen and smashed it.
There had been reports at the time that Brolin had actually hit an elk.
Graham even confiscated his passport so he could not return to England… but he managed it anyway.
The forward further enraged Graham when he missed a match to celebrate his father's 50th birthday, a decision which cost him £90,000 in club fines.
A short spell at Crystal Palace was also ruined by injury, before Brolin finally retired.
While Brolin's career as a footballer may not have lived up to that early promise, his retirement has more than made up for it.
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