Revealed: Why France international rejected Chelsea transfer
Chelsea summer transfer target Jonathan Clauss has explained why he turned down the opportunity to move to Stamford Bridge in the summer.
The right wing-back, who is valued at €12 million by FootballTransfers, has been a late bloomer in his career. He has enjoyed two sparkling seasons with Lens in Ligue 1 and last term supplied 11 assists and five goals as the northern side narrowly missed out on European football.
His performances, though, were enough to earn him his first international caps for France at the age of 29, while he caught the attention of Chelsea and Manchester United, who both displayed an interest in signing him in the summer.
It was Marseille who ultimately won the race for the player, paying €7.5m to take him to Stade Velodrome.
Although the prospect of playing for one of the Premier League’s big guns was on the table, Clauss felt that the more measured approach was to switch to Marseille, where he could still realise one of his footballing dreams.