Chelsea legend Claude Makelele has revealed why he chose to join Chelsea over Manchester United when he left Real Madrid in 2003.

“I went to Chelsea because they came in first,” Claude Makelele told FourFourTwo magazine.

“After that, several other teams approached me, including Manchester United and Inter, who had tried to sign me before I moved to Real.

“Due to the way things were happening at Madrid, I told Chelsea, ‘If I go, I’ll come to you.’ I gave them a promise. They went to great lengths to sign me, as I was 30 by then but they still paid a significant transfer fee [£16.8 million].”

Makelele won 2 Premier League titles and one FA Cup in his 5 seasons with the Blues.