Ivan Rakitic has revealed that he turned down the chance to sign for Chelsea in an exclusive interview with FourFourTwo magazine.
Despite opting to play for Croatia’s national team, Rakitić begun plying his trade in the country of his birth; Switzerland. It was in the alpine country where Rakitić’s talent was unearthed under the watchful eye of one of the country’s most successful clubs in FC Basel.
As one might expect, Rakitić eventually broke into the first team of the St. Jakob-Park outfit and has seen his career progress to the very top with the likes of FC Schalke 04, Sevilla and now with FC Barcelona where he won a historic European and domestic treble in his debut season.
However, Rakitić’s path may have taken a different route when an offer came through from Chelsea during his teenage years at Basel. The playmaker’s decision to reject the lures of West London has proven astute in the long run, with the midfielder revealing his reasoning with FourFourTwo.
I wanted to stay at home. I had a really special relationship with the president of Basel. It was much better for me to do pre-season with the first team there and then work my way gradually to the top.
Rakitić also pointed to the career of Jonas Elmer, pictured with an uncanny resemblance to Rakitić himself, as a key reminder in his thought process.
Elmer signed for Chelsea from Grasshopper Club Zürich but failed to make the cut, the left-back now plays football with FC Biel-Bienne in the Swiss Challenge League.
There was another guy in my situation, Jonas Elmer, who moved from Zurich to Chelsea at the age of 17. He ended up playing in the second division in Switzerland. Maybe that could have been me. I don’t want to say it’s always better to stay where you are in that situation, but my decision was to stay at home with my family and it worked well for me.
