Chelsea legend Claude Makelele snubbed a move to Manchester United before joining the Blues in 2003.

Makelele was one of the first signings of Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea revolution that summer, sealing a £16.8million move from Real Madrid after handing in a transfer request at the Bernabeu.

The former France midfielder has revealed Manchester United were also interested in his signature ahead of the 2003-04 season, but he had already pledged his future to Chelsea.

Makelele told FourFourTwo: “I had seen how things were going at Real Madrid. I told Chelsea that ‘if I leave, I’ll go there’. I made them a promise.

“They did everything possible to sign me. I was 30 at the time, but they still paid a significant transfer fee.

“I went to Chelsea because they came to me first. Other teams like Inter and Manchester United approached me, and they had shown interest before I went to Madrid.”