Nemanja Matic has insisted that he "does not need to prove anything" to former club Chelsea when returning to Stamford Bridge with Manchester United next weekend.
The Serbia international was surprisingly given the green light to leave West London in the summer to reunite with Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford.
Matic has settled in well at his new team, featuring for the 15th time already this season in the 2-0 win over another of his ex-clubs in Benfica on Tuesday night.
Ahead of Sunday afternoon's trip to West London, the 29-year-old claims that it will be business as usual.
"When I played there I showed my quality. We won the title twice, we also won cups. So I don't need to prove anything to them - I need to prove it to my new club," the London Evening Standard quotes him as saying.
"I spent a good time at Chelsea, three-and-a-half years is a long time, so, of course, it means a lot to me to go back. It's going to be something special to play again in the stadium.
"But now I'm on the other side, I'm a Manchester United player. I'm a professional and I'm going to do my best against them to get three points for my team. We know how important this game is."
Matic played more than 150 games for Chelsea across two spells, with the last of those coming in the 2-1 FA Cup final defeat at the hands of Arsenal in May.
Daniel Lewis
