Brazil international striker Hulk has opened up and admitted that Chelsea were interested in competing a transfer deal for his services.
There was a point back in 2012 that Hulk was one of the most sought after players in the game after impressing over the Portuguese League with Porto and was being chased by some of the games biggest and best clubs.
However, Despite the big transfer interest and the opportunity to play at the very highest level of the game, Hulk made the strange decision to swap Porto for a mega money offer from Russian side Zenit Saint Petersburg, and interest from big clubs seemingly went away.
The 33-year-old now plays at Chinese club Shanghai SIPG alongside former Chelsea midfielder Oscar but he admits they could have teamed up at Stamford Bridge much earlier in their careers, as the Blues were interested in trying to nail down his services.
He told FourFourTwo: ‘In my first season at Porto, I started well and remember hearing some talk about Manchester United, but I never received anything concrete on that,’ says Hulk.
‘At the time, I was too young and left those things for other people to sort out, so I didn’t get to know which offers arrived.
‘Only after I signed for Zenit was I told Chelsea had been interested, but I can’t tell you how serious they were.
‘Naturally it felt a bit strange not hearing any news regarding a potential transfer, because you always see players from the Portuguese league going to teams like Barcelona and Real Madrid, and also the Premier League. I’d been the best player in Portugal in three different seasons, too.’