Cesc Fabregas feels he can keep playing at the highest level for several more years and confirmed he wants to stay at Chelsea next season.
The Chelsea midfielder made his 300th Premier League appearance in Chelsea’s 3-1 win over Swansea on Saturday.
Fabregas, who was making just his sixth league start of the campaign, impressed for the 90 minutes and scored the opening goal.
The Spain international has been subject of interest from a number of clubs around the world due to his lack of playing time.
But Fabregas, who has two years left on his contract, said: “I have already made a statement that there is no truth in it and I want to stay.
“I can understand that there is doubt. I know that as a player I like to play with the ball and on the defensive side I’m not like that.
“But it shows that I have adapted very well to his (Antonio Conte’s) philosophy and what he wants. Hopefully I can learn more to play even more.”
Chelsea are looking at a number of midfielders to strengthen the squad in the summer, including Franck Kessie and Bernardo Silva.
Fabregas will turn 30 in May, but feels he still has a lot to offer and added: “What keeps me going is that I feel really good, I feel in great condition to play football for a very long time.
“I know that in my legs and in my mind that I have played many more games, for someone of 29, that I’m supposed too. But I feel young in my mind.
“Sometimes when you have played a long time and won a lot, you think ‘ah I’ve done everything and know it all’.
“But then you realise in football you never know everything. I’m in a good moment, a good situation. Hopefully I have reversed the situation a little from the beginning of the season to now. Hopefully I can keep playing like that to keep my place.”
Despite spending much of Conte’s first season on the bench, the former Arsenal captain has never complained publicly about the situation.
“Don’t get me wrong, I want to play every match, every minute, like all players do,” he said. “But sometimes you have to fight for it.
“Sometimes the easy way is to escape, to say ‘I don’t play’, get upset and say you want to leave, to create a drama. In my mind I decided ‘no, I want to challenge myself’.
“Not everything comes easy in life, you have to fight sometimes against situations that you’re not used to or that are against you in a way.
“That’s what I’m doing and hopefully I can show the manager that he can trust me in games and in any moment he wants.”