A Quote by Juan Mata
Real Madrid wanted me to join their academy. It was a big decision to move when I was 15. It's a key age for a youngster, and you're close to your friends and family. But I moved to Madrid, and my family stayed at home. It made me mature earlier than normal. That was a very big decision, and it changed me in a positive way.
Related Quotes
My family have absolutely no problem about me playing for Real Madrid. They have become Real Madrid fans.
When I was younger, I had some close friends who always loved European football, and Real Madrid at that time were the dominant force. I remember family holidays when we used to go to Spain, and we'd bring back replica shirts of Real Madrid and pretend to be the players when we played in the park.
Had I not made it big, my family would have told me to recheck my decision. Now that I am successful, there is no way. They have to accept it gracefully.
Obviously I have to respect Chelsea, who made a huge effort to sign me, and I'm very happy here. But Madrid will always be Madrid for me.
Madrid is not as big as London, but it is true when you are coming from a big city like Madrid, nothing is going to surprise you, and I am very happy to move to a city like London. It is a big city, and you can do everything you want with the respect that the English people always have.
In 2000 I was really close to sign for Real Madrid. I was in Belgium, playing the European Championship. I even took a picture with the Real Madrid shirt because all the parties thought that it was a done deal. But Wenger called me several times and convinced me to sign for Arsenal instead.
The decision to go to Milan, as everyone knows, made me mature as a man. It was a big chance and perhaps too big for the man I was at the time.
Real Madrid are Real Madrid, and any player would want to be at Real Madrid. Why would I want to leave Real Madrid? I wanted to play, nothing else.
A month before signing for Chelsea I was very close to doing so with Real Madrid as Mourinho said he wanted me.
Bayern is a big club and a big brand, but on a daily basis, it's a family club. You get to know the physios, the kit man, the chefs. It's also a club that's very close to the supporters. That proximity to the fans makes it special. That was surprising. In Liverpool and Madrid, there's more distance.
Real Madrid's interest? Yes, it's true, Real Madrid were interested in me. It was an honour and pleasure for me, it means that I have worked well in these years.
It bothers me to think I may never put on a Real Madrid shirt again. Madrid is the best thing that's ever happened to me in my life.
I always wanted to play for AC Milan or Real Madrid. Real Madrid, of course, because when I was young, the players that played there were the top players. I was looking at Real Madrid as the best of the best. And AC Milan, they also had good players when I was young, so I looked at AC Milan the same way as Real Madrid.
It was my father who - after, at age 15, I had attempted unsuccessfully to drive the family car using a 'borrowed' key and knocked down a wall of the garage - convinced me over the telephone not to run away from home and who then came home from work not to punish me but rather to console and comfort me.
My family knew I was gay when I was 15, long before I got famous. But it's a very different thing coming out to your family and coming out to the universe. That's a big step. Maybe without me, there wouldn't be Adam Lambert. Without Bowie, there wouldn't be me. Without Quentin Crisp, there wouldn't have been Bowie. So everything is part of a big daisy chain.
I think I felt ready and I really wanted to go to Real Madrid. Some are ready and others aren't. I thought about it carefully and I made the right decision.
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