Cesc Fabregas has explained how Jose Mourinho told him that if the midfielder joined him at Chelsea he would be a Premier League title winner.
The Spaniard signed for the west Londoners back in 2014 after three seasons at Barcelona and would go on to claim two league titles with Mourinho, as well as winning the FA Cup and League Cup.
And Fabregas has now explained the discussions he had with the Portuguese over making the switch to Stamford Bridge, with Mourinho having even written down the team he had in mind on paper for the midfielder, insisting that, should he join, he'd be a title winner.
The 33-year-old, who now plays in Ligue 1 for Monaco, told Rio Ferdinand's FIVE YouTube channel: "Jose has one system but he works on that system very well. He’s got the specific players for the right system.
"One day, when I first met him he told me 'I need two players, I’m going to sign Diego Costa. If you come to me...', he drew me the team on paper and said 'this team is winning the title'.
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"The first day I met him he said ‘I only need two players: Diego, who is basically signed' and then Thibaut Courtois was coming but if not it was Petr Cech. It’s basically the same. But he said: 'you come, we will win the title'.
"After that, working with him, he’s probably the coach that played with my mind better. He’s a great coach for great players. He plays with the mind. He stimulates you. One day, we were doing very well in the league and he texts to tell you how good you are, how you played so well… [but then] 'today you were rubbish'. Like this, he plays with you."
Fabregas irked many Arsenal supporters by joining one of their London rivals after having had such a close relationship with the club's fans prior to leaving for Barcelona in 2011.
And the Spaniard admits that, had he been told when he was 23 that he would go on to enjoy success with the Blues later on in his career, he would've said they were "crazy".
Reflecting on his time with Mourinho at Stamford Bridge, he said: "It was fantastic. It couldn’t be any better. If you asked me when I was 23, captain of Arsenal, that I could be so happy to have played for Chelsea over the years and being so happy there and having won what we won, I would’ve said that you’re crazy.
"But my understanding with the fans, with the club, with everyone that works there and the players, I was so happy. I felt that I fit in so well.
"We had some great coaches, again you could see that’s it a club that wants to win. That it’s hungry for titles. You need to compete always until the end to win. That’s what I wanted. I knew going with Mourinho could be a big step forward in my career."