Ramires has admitted that money weighed in on his decision to leave Chelsea for the Chinese Super League.
The 29-year-old left Stamford Bridge to join Jiangsu Suning in a £25million deal in January this year, having become unhappy at losing his place under Guus Hiddink.
“I see a lot of people saying that I came to China just for the money, but that’s not true,” he told Goal.
“If you look at the situation I was going through at Chelsea at the time of the transfer you will see that I was Hiddink’s last option in my position and this was frustrating me a lot.
“The situation was only getting worse and at that moment came the interest of the Chinese club. Jiangsu introduced me to a long-term project where I would be a key player, they offered me everything I could think of and more, and I decided together with my agent and family that this would be the best decision.
“The money issue weighed on the decision, I put it on the scale that I am already 29 years old and that an irrefutable opportunity like this may never come again. But the way things were happening at Chelsea was the main reason.”
Ramires, who spent six years at Chelsea and worked under six different managers, picked Andres Villas-Boas as the best coach he has worked with.
Villas-Boas currently managers Chinese Super League rivals, Shanghai SIPG.
“I had the pleasure of working with great coaches during my career, but I identified most with Andre Villas-Boas,” he added.
“We got along really well and it was great to work with him, he’s a guy of enormous ability and intelligence.”
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