Ivan Rakitic has revealed the reason why he rejected Chelsea FC’s advances as a youngster, in the process sparking a debate in this writer’s mind
While Chelsea FC only managed to land a few of their major targets in this summer’s transfer window, an old story about Ivan Rakitic rejecting a move to West London has been dug up from the trenches. As if Blues fans hadn’t already suffered enough transfer pain…
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Rakitic had a chance to become a part of the Stamford Bridge set-up at the age of 16, but he rebuffed the approach from Chelsea. Speaking in October’s FourFourTwo issue, the 27-year-old reveals why he felt a move to West London wasn’t the right choice at the time.
"I wanted to stay at home…It was much better for me to do pre-season with the first team there and then work my way gradually to the top."
He also qualifies his concerns with the Chelsea switch by briefly recounting the tale of a companion at his then club Basel.
"There was another guy in my situation, Jonas Elmer, who moved from Zurich to Chelsea at the age of 17. He ended up playing in the second division in Switzerland."
Elmer joined the Blues in 2005 but only featured for the club in pre-season fixtures. He left Chelsea in 2007 and has since divided his time between various low-profile Swiss teams. He briefly also ventured into Major League Soccer with the Toronto Reds.
Meanwhile, in Rakitic’s case you certainly cannot claim that his decision to stay at home hasn’t paid off. The Croat would make his Basel debut at the age of 17 and impress over the next year. Four seasons at Schalke would follow before he truly rose to prominence during his spell with Sevilla.
His quality was further recognised when Barcelona forked out a fee reportedly around £17million in order to bring him over to the Camp Nou in the summer of 2014. He has since established himself as an integral part of the Catalan outfit’s set-up, with his 51 competitive appearances helping the club achieve the treble last time out.
Rakitic is a rare example of a quality that we no longer see much of in world football: level-headedness. There are no hard facts, but I wouldn’t hesitate to say that a large majority of young, talented footballers would immediately jump at an opportunity to join a club like Chelsea without blinking an eye.
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The bright lights of grounds such as Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford have been the downfall of numerous prodigious talents. Rakitic, however, stands as proof that youngsters can delay their big move and still succeed.
The issue is that many people will have you believe that an opportunity only ever comes once, and that you must take it. Admittedly, this is indeed often the case but when you are in a decent set-up and surrounded by people you know and trust, the truly worthy talents will always fulfill their potential. In such scenarios, as was the case with Rakitic, the opportunity will again come knocking, and it will come when you are in a much better position to deal with it.
Having said that, there is much more to it as not everyone is in a similar situation to Rakitic. When you see talent who come from underdeveloped parts of the world, or from rough backgrounds, there is no way that one can criticise them for taking that opportunity at the age of 14 or 15.
I should add that I’m not just referring to players who grew up in war-torn countries, there are many promising footballers in England itself that are in similar positions.
In these cases the players will most likely never reach their potential should they reject an approach given the lack of sufficient facilities and support where they are. Rakitic was fortunate as he was a member of the Basel set-up when Chelsea scouted him. Basel are a club who play Champions League football regularly. That is a situation in which patience may well be a virtue. However, for the rest, for the majority, they just simply are not afforded that luxury.
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For all the mumblings about youngsters moving across continents, or trading up academies, it is worth bearing in mind that many just have to take their chance and hope for the best. You can lambast players for moving from Southampton to Manchester City for example, but on reflection applauding Rakitic for his decision 10 years ago is somewhat ignorant.
Yes, his choice was the right one and there is little doubt about that. However, holding him up as an example to youngsters around the world is idyllic and not viable. He is one of a handful of footballers in world football who can afford to even consider another option.
You may sympathise with Jonas Elmer, or you may berate him for following the bright lights but either way he is still doing what he loves and is playing professional football. I shudder to think about the many equally talented youngsters across the globe who never received that Chelsea offer and have thus never had a chance to fulfill their promise.
Rakitic made the right decision for his specific case, but let’s just be careful about using him as an example to follow. For the majority, it is just not valid.
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