Barcelona midfielder Rakitic reveals he turned down Chelsea when he was 16

Ivan Rakitic (L) returned from injury to help his side dominate the El Clasico on Saturday

FC Barcelona's metronomic midfielder, Ivan Rakitic has revealed that he opted to turn down a move to the English Premier League when he was just a teenager. In an interview with The Telegraph, Rakitic revealed that he rejected a move to Stamford Bridge when he was 16 years old.

The Switzerland-born Croatian midfielder played for FC Basel since he was just seven years old. He played in Basel's youth team for ten years, before he made his first-team debut when he turned 17.

His performances for Basel's youth teams caught the eyes of clubs such as Chelsea and Juventus. However, Rakitic made the brave decision of not being tempted by the lure of more popular leagues and teams and opted to stay with Basel.

“It was important for me to do it step by step. First of all to arrive in the first-team in Switzerland because I had, at 16 years of age, a big offer to go to Chelsea. And another offer from Juventus and I decided to stay at home with my family. Then I first had to get into the Super League in Switzerland and after that the next step,” Rakitic said.

“Maybe when I decided to stay in Basle it might have been a bad decision but it was my decision. It was important for me to say ‘the money is there, but the money will come with time, also’. There was another player like me and he went and today he is playing in the fourth division in Switzerland,” he explained.

It turned out to be a great decision for Rakitic as he currently plies his trade for one of the biggest football clubs in the world, FC Barcelona. He was bought for £15.5m by the Catalan giants from Sevilla as a potential replacement for club legend Xavi.

After having won the Young Player of the 2006-07 Swiss Super League season, Rakitic got his opportunity to play for a major European club when he was transferred to Bundesliga side, Schalke.

In the January transfer window of the 2010-11 season, Rakitic moved to Spanish La Liga side Sevilla, where he really made his mark as a key midfielder. He became Sevilla's first non-Spanish captain since Argentine legend Diego Maradona. Rakitic led the Andalusians to the UEFA Europa League in the 2013/14 season.

Once he made his move to Barcelona at the start of the 2014-15 season, he fit in quite well into the star-studded team and scored eight goals in 51 appearances. The most famous of the goals he scored was the opening goal he scored in the 2014-15 UEFA Champions League final to help the Catalans win their fifth European title.

Rakitic is also a huge fan of the English Premier League and follows his former Croatian coach, Slaven Bilic. He hopes that Bilic can lead West Ham to glory this season.

“I really like the Premier League, I like it a lot. Because of Slaven Bilic. He was my coach for six, seven years with Croatia. First of all, he’s crazy for the Premier League and he likes West Ham a lot. And he likes rock and roll! He’s a big person, a big personality and I wish him all the best and I hope that West Ham win the Premier League,” he said.