Pedro: Why I chose Chelsea ahead of Manchester United and Manchester City

Farewell: Pedro bids goodbye to Barca
AFP/Getty Images
Tom Dutton24 August 2015

Spain striker Pedro feels a lack of playing time left him with no choice but to leave Barcelona and make the move to Premier League champions Chelsea .

Less than 24 hours after making his Blues debut following a £21.1million transfer, and helping Chelsea to their first win of the season by scoring at West Brom, Pedro returned to his former club to hold one final, farewell press conference.

"I leave this club with my head held high," Pedro told the Spanish media. "I take with me all the memories of being part of this marvellous club and of its history.

"There have been great times, I have scored in many finals. I take with me those times of euphoria and happiness.

"I don't think Barca will miss me because they have plenty of quality players, but I will sure miss them, the players and the club."

The 28-year-old joined Barca's youth system as a 17-year-old, and since making his first-team debut in the 2007/08 season has won 20 trophies with the club, including five league titles and three Champions Leagues crowns.

In 2009, Pedro became the first player to hit the back of the net in all six major club competitions in one season.

Barca boys: Iniesta, Messi and Busquets showed up at the press conference 
AFP/Getty Images

However, he decided to leave Barca after seeing his playing time reduced by the arrival of Luis Suarez last summer, making just 25 starts in all competitions in the 2014/15 campaign.

"Of course I would have liked to have stayed at Barca and retire here," Pedro said.

"That was my intention when I signed my contract extension. But I've taken a gamble because it's what I wanted.

"I wasn't going to stay here just to appear on the photo."

Two months ago, Pedro extended his contract with Barca until June 2019 after scoring 16 goals and setting up nine more in all competitions last season.

"I was really happy when I signed that contract," he said. "But then I saw that my situation would not change.

"This offer arrived and it gave me everything I needed to take a decision. I wanted to leave to have more playing time."

A member of Spain's World Cup-winning squad in South Africa in 2010, Pedro, who also won Euro 2012 with La Roja, revealed he had no shortage of offers from England.

Chelsea's Pedro in focus

1/5

"I'm always ambitious but it was difficult to have continuity here," he said. "Now I have new challenges and the opportunity to continue to play,.

"I had offers from other English clubs - Manchester United, City and Chelsea, who were the club that more rapidly resolved my transfer and the one that showed more interest in me.

"I'm very happy to be at Chelsea because it's a club that, like Barca, are fighting for titles. But I haven't gone to Chelsea just to work under (manager Jose) Mourinho, but also because London attracts me as a city and I have friends at Chelsea. Moreover, English football is exciting and very attractive.

"I've had an incredible reception at Chelsea. John Terry is an exemplary captain, who has treated me very well since I arrived.

"I just hope I don't have to face Barca or step out at the Nou Camp wearing another jersey. It would be difficult, I wouldn't like it."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in