Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Christian Eriksen has no regrets over rejecting Chelsea

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Christian Eriksen has no regrets about rejecting a move to Chelsea as a teenager. The Denmark international was courted by a host of clubs as a 16-year-old, including Chelsea, Barcelona and AC Milan — but he ultimately opted to join Ajax because he thought the Dutch club was the best place to develop his talent.

Eriksen, now 24, believes he was more likely to fail than succeed at Stamford Bridge. He, therefore, does not harbour any regrets about rejecting the Blues' advances.

"In Denmark, you are sure to play if you were good, but Ajax played you if you did not have the mentality and went 100% to it," the Tottenham midfielder told Fyens in Denmark. "It did not matter who you were. It was about getting better every day.

"If I had chosen Chelsea, then my situation today would be completely different. I'm sure. Of course you never say never, because I would have been 100% into it, if I had chosen it. I just felt that there was more chance to fail than succeed."

Earlier this year, Martin Schoots, Eriksen's agent, stressed that the highly-rated Tottenham star has never been motivated by money, despite receiving lucrative offers from numerous clubs across the continent.

"The only thing that I can say is that if money were the most important thing, Christian would not have gone to Ajax at the first place," the Tottenham star's agent said over the summer. "At the time he was 16, we were in contact with clubs like Barcelona, Chelsea and AC Milan.

"And if money were the most important thing, he wouldn't have joined Tottenham three years ago. He had interest from some of the richest clubs in the world. But Tottenham were the only club he wanted to join, and he is happy."

Eriksen joined Tottenham from Ajax in August 2013 and recently penned a new contract with Spurs, committing himself to the White Hart Lane club until 2020. Upon signing his deal, Eriksen wrote on Twitter: "There is a great future at this place and I wouldn't have signed if I didn't see that."