The Venezia star Harvey St Clair has revealed the real reason he dumped Chelsea for his Serie B club side.
The Scottish midfielder ended his reign with the Premier League side after it became clear he might taste first team football at the Stamford Bridge.
His move to the Italian League was motivated by his desires to improve himself by playing regular competitive football.
The current FA Cup champions have several players on loan at different European clubs - with this season's tally at 40.
According to the Sun, St Clair was said to have taken inspiration from the likes of Jadon Sancho and Liam Henderson in swapping England for Europe... and thriving.
After leaving Chelsea - the club he joined aged eight - St Clair told Goal: " I wasn't going to go to Zenit St Petersburg or Watford .
"It was only Chelsea or Venezia, so I just felt that the best thing for my football development was Venezia. The opportunity arose and I liked the fact that it was a new challenge .
"Everything about the move made it seem like a no-brainer to me and I just thought, 'Let's go for it' .
"I think that British players are just looking for opportunities and I think in the English game that level in the Premier League is so high that it is more difficult for young players nowadays .
"I think I probably would have gone on loan had I stayed.
"I just felt like at this moment in time that the best moment for me was to come here and have a new challenge .
"Obviously Venice is a beautiful city but I didn't come here for a holiday. I am here to develop as a player and play first-team football.
"I came here for a new challenge and opportunities to play senior football. It was an unbelievable experience to make my debut and one that I will never forget.
"The fans in Italy are very passionate and it was amazing to play in front of the home crowd and to make my professional debut was a proud moment for me.
"I watched a lot of Italian football when I was younger.
There are the great teams in Italy, I remember watching the Champions League when Inter beat Barcelona.
"It seems like a great place to play football. The fans are great, so that helped me decide to come here ."
But St Clair also added the quality is surprisingly good in the Italian second-tier as he hopes to make an impact on the first-team.
The ex-Chelsea star added: " The aim is for me is to play as many games as possible... to try to help the team as much as possible.
"Every day I want to improve to become the best possible version I can be of myself. I just want to try and do as well as possible.
"It is very surprising how good [the team] are. We have a few veterans in the team. We have a lot of experience, it is nothing like being around teenagers anymore.
"These are grown men who are very strong. We have a lot of technical players here as well. "
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