Valencia left-back Jose Gaya explains why he turned down Real Madrid in 2015

Gaya chose to continue his development with Los Che when Real came calling.
Getty Images
Ben Hayward30 April 2020

Valencia left-back Jose Gaya has revealed why he turned down Real Madrid in 2015.

The 24-year-old defender was wanted by Los Blancos as competition for Marcelo, but opted to remain at Mestalla.

"It's flattering that a team like Real Madrid were after me," he told Movistar+. "It's true that it was at a moment in which I had just started out, it was my first year and I had only played about 20 games in LaLiga when all that happened.

"Yes, there was interest, but I thought that I was still young. I had played only 20 games. I decided to keep my faith in Valencia, which was my home, and to keep growing as a player. I think I did the right thing."

​Gaya has gone on to become one of the finest left-backs in Europe and now has seven caps for Spain.

Asked about the future of team-mate Ferran Torres, who is being linked with a move away from Valencia this summer, he said: "I have experienced it and I was clear I wanted to stay. I'm not in Ferran's head, but I hope he continues with us."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in