Damien Duff decided to join big spenders Chelsea because he could not resist the challenge of battling for his place in a star-studded squad at Stamford Bridge.
The Republic of Ireland winger made the Stg£17million switch from Blackburn to join the Chelsea revolution bankrolled by billionaire new owner Roman Abramovich.
And Duff, paraded alongside fellow new signings Wayne Bridge, Geremi, Glen Johnson and Marco Ambrosio, said: "The easy thing would have been to have stayed at Blackburn where I was happy and played every week.
"Here I'm not guaranteed my place and it's a big challenge that I couldn't turn down."
Duff is impressed by the strength of the Chelsea squad he is now part of and clearly expects further new arrivals before the start of the Premiership season.
"We looked strong in Asia (during the Asia Cup) and God knows who we will be bringing in over the next two weeks," he added.
Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri, meanwhile, said the signings were a major step towards joining the big league.
The west London club's spending spree has so far topped £37million but Ranieri knows money alone will not guarantee success.
"The owner said you can buy the players but not the wins. It is important to work hard. I think we all want to win, the owner, me, the players we all want to win," he said.
"I said Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool they are better than us because they have a bigger squad. But now we are building.
"The first step is to build a group, build a squad. This is very important. I have confidence in myself, in my players and of course in my new owner. We are building a good team, a team like Real Madrid, Milan, Manchester United."