Josko Gvardiol has confirmed that he considered a 'serious offer' from a Chelsea in the summer transfer window. The RB Leipzig star was heavily linked with a move to Stamford Bridge earlier last year but a deal collapsed after he decided to pen a new five-year deal with the German outfit instead.
football.london understand that the Blues remain interested in Gvardiol, despite having signed three centre-halves since Todd Boehly bought the club in May; Kalidou Koulibaly and Wesley Fofana in the summer, and Benoit Badiashile in January. With Thiago Silva in the latter stages of his career, Chelsea are aware that the Croatia international is somebody who will become world-class in years to come.
It's said that the west Londoners are long-admirers of the 21-year-old defender and they've been keeping tabs on his development since his days at Dinamo Zagreb. After impressing for Croatia at the World Cup, interest in Gvardiol's signature has only intensified, so holding onto him could prove to be a difficult task for Leipzig.
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In an interview with The Times, the £89million-rated youngster revealed how he found out about Chelsea's interest, the offer put forward and his future plans. Gvardiol said: "My agent called me and saw that Chelsea is extremely interested.
"Of course you definitely think about a serious offer from a huge club like Chelsea. Leipzig said they didn’t want to sell me, in the end I really struggled with that decision but we didn’t make an agreement
"It is what it is, I am here and fine with this because my idea had been to stay here, one season wasn’t enough," he added. "This is my second, even one more season would be great but we will see."
Speaking to The Times, Gavrdiol also revealed how he helped his dad sell fish as a child and even considered pursuing a career in the family business full-time. He said: "I was 16 or 17 and still on the bench in the youth teams.
"I was frustrated and, at one moment, I was thinking to leave football. [Selling fish?] By the way, I hate fish. Imagine being 16 years old and there’s only fish to eat every day at home. I want to try something else.
"I don’t know what happened but then afterwards I started to play and they finally saw something in me, my quality, and in one year I moved to Dinamo Zagreb’s second team."
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