Chelsea forward, Charly Musonda has said that he offered to play for the club for free.
He took the decision in a desperate attempt to remain at Stamford Bridge, asking the club not to pay him.
The Belgian joined the Blues as a 15-year-old in 2012 and has gone on to make only seven senior appearances for the club.
Now 25, the attacking midfielder has not played for Chelsea’s first team since suffering a serious crucial ligament injury while on loan at Vitesse in 2018.
In November, the player tearfully confirmed he would be leaving Stamford Bridge in June 2022 when his current contract expires.
However, Musonda’s offer to play for free was turned down by club’s manager, Thomas Tuchel, who made him understand that he is not in charge of contract talks but only a coach.
He said on The Beautiful Game Podcast:
“I spoke with the manager…I explained to him the same thing, I will play here for free. It’s not to do with the contract, I will literally play for free this year.
“I can be the last guy in the squad. Train hard, basically build my way through training, play with the 23s, get some fitness back and from there see.
“It’s a long season, there’s a lot of games. I’m not even asking to start those games, I was just saying, if I can come on, get 15, 20 minutes here and there.
“He (Tuchel) understood. We had a good chat and he said, ‘Listen, it’s not up to me. The contract talks are something else’.”