Midfielder says Chelsea owner Abramovich told him he’d sort out England transfer

CSKA Moscow midfielder Alan Dzagoev has spoken to Russian YouTube channel KraSava and confirmed he had the chance to play for Chelsea earlier in his career.

Dzagoev, who’s now been playing for his boyhood club CSKA for more than 11 years, said they travelled to England to be involved in a trial game but Avram Grant, Chelsea boss at the time, didn’t want to sign him.

He claimed that despite the refusal, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich told the player and his representatives if they wanted to move to England, he’d sort it out: “It’s true that Abramovich told us if we want to go to England, we just need to tell him. But at the time, the situation was a very confusing one for me. So, I decided to stay with the club,” he told KraSava, via Sport-Express.

Dzagoev also said he received no offers from Arsenal or Tottenham Hotspur despite links with the two North London clubs, but he did have the chance to leave CSKA for German side Stuttgart.

Now 29, Dzagoev has made 342 appearances for CSKA in all competitions and scored 74 goals.

The player has also represented the Russian national team 59 times since, after making his debut in 2008.