Rio Ferdinand played for Chelsea’s rivals Manchester United for 12 years.
And they were 12 very successful years with the former central defender winning a plethora of honours, including six Premier League titles and one Champions League trophy, the latter he won at Chelsea‘s expense.
However, it appears that Rio Ferdinand could have actually joined the Blues at one stage in his career.
One of the greatest centre-backs the Premier League has ever seen, the retired England international would have been an incredible signing for Chelsea.
He has now shared the reason why he decided not to move to Stamford Bridge.
Rio Ferdinand reveals why he never joined Chelsea
Ferdinand has shared that he actually could have signed for Chelsea before his switch from West Ham United to Leeds United 14 years ago.
The Manchester United legend has claimed that he would have preferred to join the Blues at the time, but something stopped him.
Speaking on Stick to Football, he said: “When I left [for] Leeds I could have gone to Chelsea and it’s probably a club I would have preferred to go to at the time, but the reason I left to go to Leeds was because it was out of London and the external people around me I needed to get away from.”
While Chelsea were not able to land Ferdinand, they have still had some great centre-halves of their own in the Premier League era. John Terry and Marcel Desailly are just a couple of names that spring to mind.
Rio Ferdinand discusses Cole Palmer and Jude Bellingham
Ferdinand has also been speaking about Chelsea star Cole Palmer recently.
The 21-year-old has been in sensational form for the Blues this season, coming up with 28 goal contributions in all competitions since joining them from Manchester City last summer.
He has impressed Ferdinand, but the former United man has claimed that the England international is “nowhere near as good as” Jude Bellingham.
That is fair enough, as Bellingham is excelling at Real Madrid, a much higher level, and has been in the senior game longer than Palmer despite being a year younger than his Three Lions team-mate.
But if Palmer can keep scoring goals and setting them up, it could soon be more of a debate.