Chelsea's new offer came too late, says Zola

Gianfranco Zola would still be a Chelsea player had the club improved their contract offer 48 hours earlier. The Italian striker last Wednesday exchanged Chelsea and the Premiership for Cagliari and Serie B after rejecting an increased pay offer that day, financed by Roman Abramovich's £200m club takeover the night before.

Zola said yesterday that he would have taken up the offer had it come before his contract expired the previous day. That was when he decided he had enough of the delay over his possible 12-month contract extension and told Cagliari he would join them.

"I wasn't thinking of leaving and had put all my offers on standby," he said. "But the renewal of my contract went on and on until 1 July, when my contract expired. Then I had to do something. I couldn't keep the other people waiting as that would have been disrespectful to them. So I decided to go.

"Chelsea made me a better offer on 2 July, when the transaction between the old owners and the new owners happened. That gave me a really bad couple of hours. But, unfortunately, it was too late. It wouldn't have been correct to take it, because Cagliari had followed me for such a long time.

"But I'm not putting any blame on Chelsea as they had so many more important things going on than renewing my contract."

Zola, who made 312 appearances in seven years in west London, scoring 80 goals and winning a special place in the hearts of Chelsea fans, added: "To play in the Champions' League again would have been very attractive. But I made a choice. This is not just about playing football - it's about doing something I believe is right. Money is important, but some things are even more important."