Zola: Why I said no

Gianfranco Zola today confirmed that Chelsea tried to change his mind about leaving the club 24 hours after Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich took control of the club in a £200million deal.

Zola, who was back at Stamford Bridge today to say his farewell, after deciding to join Sardinian club Cagliari on a year's contract, said: "They made me a better offer on 2 July which really made it a bad couple of hours for me. It would have been incorrect of me though, to change my mind but it's been hard."

Zola, 37, revealed he had no thoughts about leaving Chelsea last season.

"I had offers but I was not thinking of leaving Chelsea so I put all the offers on stand-by," he said. "However, unfortunately Chelsea were going through a bad situation and we couldn't find an agreement. The thing has gone on and on until 1 July when my contract expired.

"I had to do something - I couldn't keep people waiting as it would have been disrespectful for them, so I decided to go.

"There is no blame for Chelsea.

"They had problems more important than renewing my contract so I have no reason to say anything about this club that has been so important for me and my family.

"I will have only good memories about it."