Former SuperSport United captain Dean Furman has opened up about his time at Chelsea and revealed why he didn’t become a superstar at the Premier League outfit.

The Bafana Bafana midfielder has a vast of experience playing for the likes of Chelsea, Rangers, Bradford City, Oldham Athletic, and Doncaster Rovers.

The 32-year-old also spent a memorable five-years at Absa Premiership side SuperSport United, where he made 155 appearances across all competitions while scoring five-goal while winning two Nedbank Cup titles as well as the MTN8 title with Matsatsantsa.

However, Furman recently parted ways with the club and left South Africa to return to the United Kingdom.

After joining the Blues as a nine-year-old, Furman explains why he could not play for Chelsea’s senior team whilst also reserving special praise for former manager Brendan Rodgers.

‘I was hoping I’d be the next superstar. But we were signing players for millions at 16. The competition in the reserves was up,’ Furman told the Guardian.

‘We signed players like Scott Sinclair and Ryan Bertrand. At 18 Chelsea decided not to keep me on.

‘It was an incredible time. Brendan Rodgers took over as our manager in the youth team. It’s no surprise to see how successful he has been in Scotland and with Leicester. On the pitch, everything had a structure.

‘I remember the first day he came in and told us that while he was the youth team manager at Reading the reserve players wanted to train with him and so did the first team.

‘His training was second to none. We were young men and he helped us grow up off the pitch.’