Alan Dzagoev has revealed he rejected the chance to join Chelsea despite Roman Abramovic's attempts to recruit him.
The CSKA Moscow legend played in a trial game with Chelsea during the earlier days of his career.
Avram Grant was in charge of the Blues at the time and was not convinced by the Russian midfielder.
But Chelsea chairman Abramovic informed his fellow countryman Dzagoev that the club would sign him regardless of Grant's wishes.
'It's true that Abramovich told us if we want to go to England, we just need to tell him,' Dzagoev told Sport Express, as reported by The Sun.
'But at the time, the situation was a very confusing one for me. So, I decided to stay with the club.'