Chelsea goalkeeper Asmir Begovic has revealed that Antonio Conte convinced him to stay at the club after insisting he wanted him to be part of the squad.
Since arriving from Stoke City, the shot-stopper has been considered a back-up option to Thibaut Courtois and in turn has struggled to establish himself as the first choice between the posts.
Despite buying into Conte’s vision for this season, it doesn’t appear as though much is about to change with Begovic restricted to just two EFL Cup appearances this year.
Nevertheless, the 29-year-old has insisted that he didn’t think about leaving Stamford Bridge over the summer and was convinced after speaking to his latest coach that he should stay.
“It was a clear situation,” he explained, as noted by the Evening Standard. “He made it clear, his philosophy. I never talked about leaving.
“Of course I want to play but at a big club you also have to accept you are part of a squad going for several trophies, different cups and be part of a big group.
“It’s nice that the manager wants you to be part of that. We have three top keepers. We train hard, we need to stay at the top of our games.”
Begovic made 25 appearances in all competitions last season in large part down to the fact that Courtois suffered an injury, and so the fact that he’s barely featured this year so far shows the huge contrast to his influence at Stoke.
The Bosnian international was a regular fixture in the Potters line-up, making 160 league appearances in six years at the Britannia Stadium, but it appears as though he’s happy to play his part, albeit a limited one, in staying at Chelsea and pushing to win silverware.
Whether that continues to be the case as he watches on from the bench remains to be seen, but he certainly sounds committed to the cause for now.