Bayern Munich star Douglas Costa said Chelsea made a "great effort" to sign him before his summer transfer but he wanted to play under Pep Guardiola.
Douglas Costa, 25, left Shakhtar Donetsk for Bayern in the summer for a reported €30 million fee and has made an instant impression for the Bundesliga leaders.
However, the transfer to Germany had come as a surprise to many given that the Brazil international had previously spoken of his desire to move to the Premier League and Chelsea in particular, telling FourFourTwo in March that he considered boss Jose Mourinho to be "the best around."
The attacker has now said that the Blues did attempt to sign him but he preferred a move to the Allianz Arena due to the presence of former Barcelona boss Guardiola.
"Chelsea also wanted me," Costa told Bild. "There was great interest and they made great efforts, but I wanted to join Pep Guardiola by all means. And Bayern.
"It was a conscious decision in favour of Pep and Bayern because I was convinced that I can learn more here."
Douglas Costa has played both on the flanks and in a more central role for Bayern this season and has already provided 12 assists in the Bundesliga -- five more than Borussia Monchengladbach's Raffael and Borussia Dortmund duo Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Matthias Ginter.