Barcelona ace Ivan Rakitic admits turning down Chelsea as a young player.

Rakitic insisted he holds no regrets over turning down the chance to move to either the English giants or Juventus whilst he was first making a name for himself at FC Basel.

“It was important for me to do it step by step," Rakitic told the Daily Telegraph.

“First of all to arrive in the first team in Switzerland because I had, at 16 years of age, a big offer to go to Chelsea. And another offer from Juventus and I decided to stay at home with my family."