Asmir Begovic has revealed it was his hearty conversation with Chelsea coach Antonio Conte that inspired him to stay at Stamford Bridge.

Image: Asmir Begovic

The 33-year-old vice captain of Bosnia and Herzegovina national team says he never wanted to leave the club, adding that he perfectly understands Conte’s desire to have a few more goalkeepers at his disposal.

“It was a clear situation. He made it clear, his philosophy,” Begovic told the Daily Mirror.

“I never talked about leaving. Of course I want to play but at a big club you also have to accept you are part of a squad going for several trophies, different cups and be part of a big group.

“It’s nice that the manager wants you to be part of that. We have three top keepers. We train hard, we need to stay at the top of our games.

“We’re playing for our national teams as well and it helps when you have good guys around you pushing you in training every day.”

Begovic’s road to stardom started in the 2012–13 English Premier League season when he played in every single league match for Stoke. His amazing performances bestowed on him, the club’s Player of the Year awards.

His rise was consolidated in November 2013 when the goalkeeper became the fifth goalkeeper to score a goal in the Premier League.

Image: Asmir Begovic

Begovic scored from a distance of 97.5 yards against Southampton after 13 seconds in the game. He was honored with the World Record for ‘longest goal scored in football’.

At that time he said: “It’s a cool feeling but it was a fortunate incident. I feel a bit bad for Boruc. It is a long ball that got caught in the wind and it took a wicked bounce. It’s not nice to be on the receiving end of those things as a goalkeeper. It does not make a goalkeeper look good and after it I did not want to celebrate out of respect for him.”

The famous goalkeeper joined Chelsea in July 2015 after an £8 million transfer fee.