Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic has signed a new five-and-a-half year deal with the Stamford Bridge club.
The Serbia international, who has impressed at right back and in the centre since joining the Blues three years ago, is now committed to the club until 2016 after putting pen to paper to extend his stay.
Ivanovic was signed by Avram Grant when he joined the club from Lokomotiv Moscow, but it was under Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink and now Carlo Anceoltti that nearly all his 99 appearances for the club have come.
At Chelsea he has won two FA Cups, as well as last year’s Premier League title – after a season in which he was named in the PFA Team of the Year. He is now looking forward to more good times with the ambitious Londoners, his extension more good news following the recent big money arrivals of Fernando Torres and David Luiz.
“It is good news for me, it is a very big step for me in my career and I want to give my maximum and try to help Chelsea win a lot more trophies,” Ivanovic told Chelsea’s official website.
“These things take a little time but my first vision was always to stay with Chelsea, there were not a lot of problems because I wanted to stay, the club wanted me to stay and I want to thank everyone who helped with the deal, I am very happy with that.”
After his slow start with the club, Ivanovic became a Blues icon with two goals at Anfield in a Champions League quarter-final first leg in 2009 and he says things have been great for him at Chelsea ever since.
He added: “'I don't like to think too much about the past because in football you have to get better every day, concentrate on small details of every game, but from my side maybe the two goals against Liverpool gave me confidence.
“But all other things have been slowly developing and step-by-step, which is what I have to do in the future.
“For every player coming to a new country you have to adapt and then you become better and better, but I now feel so comfortable here and I really enjoy being a Chelsea player and my wish was always to stay here.
“Now I think I can give many more good games, the three years has gone very quickly, and I think it has been a success so I hope to carry on getting better and better with Chelsea.”