Chelsea's 25-year-old right-back Cesar Azpilicueta has reportedly fought off advances from both La Liga giants Barcelona and Real Madrid, as he states he is happy at the Blues; where he sees his long-term future.
This encouraging news for Chelsea fans comes just days after Jose Mourinho's men secured the Premier League title at Stamford Bridge once again, after a narrow 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon. The Spaniard has been a key part of the team's success over the past year or two, and following Filipe Luis' £18million pound move from Atletíco Madrid last summer to act as his long-term rival, the full-back has edged his new team-mate out, having played the majority of first-team minutes in the 2014-15 campaign so far. This is so much so, that rumours have been running rampant over the past few weeks suggesting Chelsea would be interested in using Luis as a makeweight in a cash-plus-exchange deal to sign the highly-rated Atletíco youngster Koke.
He was a shrewd signing from Ligue 1 side Marseille back in 2012, and has established himself as a first-team regular since then; making 136 appearances for the west London side since his move. He had this to say: "This is so great, but it was so long [that] it was very difficult to win the championship. But we have worked hard to be crowned [champions]. I am happy because, when I came here three years ago, I did not play a lot, there was a lot of competition... but I worked hard and won the title, that was my goal. [Mourinho] asks a lot of the players - it's a new challenge every day, you have to be ready to fight but Mourinho made me grow. I have made a lot of progress with him; it's the most important thing to learn with a man like him."
He continued: "I do not think about anything other than staying at Chelsea. I do not think about Spain - I'm in the best team in England, I do not think to play elsewhere. We have at Chelsea perhaps one of the future top players in the world [with Eden Hazard]. This year he had a great season, he deserved to be the best player in the Premier League. There has been much criticism but we scored a lot of goals, we are the [second-best] attack in the championship. That means we have an offensive game but sometimes you have to know when to defend."