Leicester City star Wout Faes has insisted that he has no regrets snubbing a move to Chelsea as a teenager. The 24-year-old joined the Foxes on summer transfer deadline day from Stade Reims as a direct replacement for Wesley Fofana, who joined the Blues a few weeks earlier.
In an interview with the Guardian, Faes revealed that he turned down an offer from the west Londoners after impressing at a tournament in Scotland with the Belgium Under-17s. The defender, who was with Anderlecht at the time, impressed Chelsea scouts so much that the club sent him a signed David Luiz shirt once he turned 16.
"We have similar hair so maybe that is why," Faes said. "Since then, people who I don’t really know always ask the same questions. I can understand it because he was a very big player and he’s played for almost all of the big teams in England but for me it’s important to make my own name."
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Faes is just one of several youngsters from Anderlecht who have courted the interest of the Blues in recent years, namely Romelu Lukaku. The Leicester defender continued by detailing his talks with Chelsea and why he decided to stay on home soil.
"They [Chelsea] called me and they wanted to have me but I never really thought to go, because I knew at Anderlecht I was [in a] very, very good [place]," Faes added. "Maybe if I had gone there, maybe I would have got more money but that was not important.
"I wanted to have the best education and I knew at Anderlecht they were really counting on me and saw me as a future talent. It was more important to stay there and progress there. I never thought: ‘I should have gone to Chelsea.’ I have no regrets to not have signed there."
Faes has featured just three times for Brendan Rodgers' side in the Premier League this season, with minutes hard to come by. As it stands, the Belgian will find out whether he made the right decision to snub Chelsea in March when the two side's faces again - this time at the King Power Stadium.
The west Londoners waltzed past the Foxes 2-1 at Stamford Bridge at the end of August. Neither Fofana nor Faes featured, so the reverse bout is set to be a fiery affair.
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