There was some surprise recently when Manchester City raided Chelsea to sign one of their most important players behind the scenes.
Marcus Bettinelli had been one of the captains off the pitch in a remarkably young Premier League squad, and was clearly playing a key role alongside the likes of Reece James.
However, he ended up moving to City for next to nothing to go and fulfil the same role at the Etihad.
James and Cole Palmer were both gutted to see Bettinelli leave, however their opinions of him may have been altered slightly when hearing the goalkeeper’s reasoning for leaving Stamford Bridge this summer.
Marcus Bettinelli warms up ahead of Liverpool FC v Chelsea FC - Premier League
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Marcus Bettinelli fires shot at Chelsea after joining Manchester City
Despite never really permanently leaving London, the Englishman told The Athletic that he decided to leave the club because he had the chance to work with ‘winners’ at the Etihad.
He said: “I think obviously when you get a phone call from Man City and you’ve got a chance to work with winners and Pep (Guardiola), who’s won everything in his career, to learn from him, to see how he works, to see this mentality that the lads have in his team, it was near impossible for me to say no.
“I’ve always been a London boy… so leaving for myself and my family was obviously always a big decision but when Man City phone, these ideas kind of go out the window. You only really have one choice and that is to go because it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
The move came less than a month after Chelsea won their first trophy of the Todd Boehly era, picking up the Conference League.
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They have a chance to add to this with the Club World Cup trophy, where a tie against City could be on the cards at some stage of the competition.
Todd Boehly watches on from the stands during Chelsea FC v Aston Villa FC - Premier League
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Given the fact Boehly is keen to sign the most promising young talents in world football to build up his squad, it is tough for them to come into the side with experience of winning trophies.
Estevao Willian is set to join the first team this summer, with Dario Essugo, Mamadou Sarr and Andrey Santos all making the move too.
With Geovany Quenda on his way too, it is clear that they are continuing to build for the future, whilst also looking to win in the present day.
They do need their experienced players to balance things out though, and losing Bettinelli will have been a blow to the dressing room mood going forwards.