Former Chelsea defender Yuri Zhirkov has spoken to Russian website Championat about the time he spent at London.
The 36-year-old, who’s now playing for Russian side Zenit, was at Chelsea between 2009 and 2011 after the London side paid close to £20m for his services, where he won a Premier League title with the Blues in 2010.
Speaking about his time at Stamford Bridge, Zhirkov said he could have done a lot better at Chelsea if he had simply made the swap without those close to him travelling with him: ”I moved my family to London with me. I am thinking now, if I moved there alone, then it could have been a lot easier. I had a lot of problems daily. So that affected my performances. Also, I wasn’t very good at English so that was also a problem. I had to return to Russia because of all this.”
Zhirkov has featured 88 ties for his country Russia, and still has one year left on his current contract with Zenit.
While not a regular under Sergei Semak, the veteran is still a sporadic starter, showcasing his versatility by playing on either side of the defence or even further up the pitch as a left midfielder.
