Barcelona defender Jeremy Mathieu has confirmed he rejected an offer from Chelsea as he wished to remain at the Camp Nou.
Mathieu recently called time on his international career with France and is now concentrating all his energies on Barcelona. And the defender is keen to continue turning out for the Catalan giants, so much so that he turned down an opportunity to be part of the Antonio Conte revolution at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea were looking for another defender over the summer transfer window and eventually added David Luiz, who joined from Paris Saint-Germain, on deadline day.
Asked about Chelsea being interested in him by L'Equipe, Mathieu replied: "That's true.
"But I immediately said to the president and the sporting director I wanted to stay", the Frenchman added.
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Mathieu does not know whether he will finish his career at Barcelona however, although he does know he intends to see out his contract with the Spanish giants, which ends in 2018.
"In football you never know, but in my head I will go to the end of my contract.
"Today, I feel good physically and when that is no longer the case I will stop", he added.
Barcelona snapped up the 32-year-old, who can operate as a centre-back or left-back, from Spanish rivals Valencia in 2014.
