Hasselbaink publicly admitted at the time he would have listened to what Barcelona had to offer if they had been given permission to speak to him.
The contrast between the two clubs' fortunes since then could not have been clearer this week, with Barcelona topping their Champions League qualifying group and Chelsea being dumped out of the UEFA Cup in the first round by Norwegian side Viking.
However, the Holland international insists his comments in August did not mean he was unhappy at Stamford Bridge and he has given the club a much-needed boost by committing himself to them.
“What happened in the summer is that I had an operation and then I went away on holiday, and I read in the paper that I was being linked with Barcelona,” said Hasselbaink.
“That was it. Then, just before the transfer deadline closed, it was a little bit more serious. I was asked 'would you be interested?'
“I said, like a normal professional, that I would listen to what they had to say. It's not that I wanted to go, but if a club the size of Barcelona comes in, you have to always listen.
“It's not that I'm not happy here. I am. It's not that I don't like it here. I do. It's not that I don't love the fans. I do.
“I feel happy and I feel good in a blue shirt and playing for Chelsea, and everybody knows that I give 200 per cent to the club.
“And that was it. The transfer deadline passed and I am still here. I am happy that I am still here. It was not my fault that the stuff was in the papers.
“I think everybody knows that football is a business and sometimes it is not up to the players what is going to happen to them.”
Hasselbaink nevertheless emphasised the need for Chelsea to qualify for the Champions League.
“My hopes for the team are more important than my hopes for myself,” he told the club's official magazine. “The most important thing of all is that we get into the Champions League.”
Chelsea have no time to feel sorry for themselves in the wake of their defeat to the Norwegian part-timers as they take on Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.