Azpilicueta's KIDS meant Barcelona transfer collapsed

Stuart Telford

• Updated: 23 May 2023 09:00 CDT
• 3 min read

Cesar Azpilicueta was on the cusp of moving to Barcelona on a free transfer from Chelsea last summer, but a deal collapsed at the last minute.

Azpilicueta is Chelsea's captain, one who has won two Premier League titles and a Champions League in his 10 years at the club, but his Stamford Bridge stay looked to be drawing to a close in the summer.

The Spaniard was still a first-team regular under Thomas Tuchel last season, but there was a feeling that he was ready for a new challenge, and Barca had already signed his Blues teammates Andreas Christensen and Marcos Alonso on free transfers.

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But Azpilicueta instead extended his contract in August, signing on for another two years in west London, and he has now explained that his kids were most of the reason why.

"At Chelsea I played less than 30 games and I was already a free agent," he said whilst on World Cup duty with Spain. "That had never happened to me in my life. But the new owners arrived, and they showed the desire to keep working with me.

'They speak better English than Spanish!'

"London is my home and my children speak English better than Spanish. When I made the decision I think [Barca manager] Xavi understood it. If things are clear, they're easier to understand."

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Todd Boehly replaced Roman Abramovich as owner in May and spent big in the summer transfer window, with more than €180 million of the €280m they spent on defenders in Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella and Kalidou Koulibaly.

Azplicueta - increasingly a third centre-back having been a full-back earlier in his career - has started in seven of his 11 Premier League appearances this season, as well as all three of Spain's group stage games at the World Cup.