Kurt Zouma admits he felt he had little future at Chelsea before the arrival of manager Frank Lampard.
The 24-year-old has revealed the tough journey he had been on to get back into the side at Chelsea.
"It has been a very, very long journey," Zouma told Goal. "I don't want to talk about that now because that is the past, but I fought very hard.
"People don't know, people don't see but I was in the shadows, working hard to get back because I had a very, very bad injury.
"I was off for one year but people forget that and don't see. But for me, I always believed in myself. My family was always there behind me, supporting me and now I am back here, I am very happy to play here. I just want to keep going.
"I came here and wanted to play. I am in a big club and everyone here wants to play. The competition is very hard and you can see in the squad, there are a lot of talented players so when you train, you have to do it right."