ESPN FC's Sid Lowe believes Real Madrid's inability to achieve results in La Liga is taking a mental toll on the players. Zinedine Zidane says he is trying to identify the problems Real Madrid are facing, but admits some mistakes are hard to comprehend. After Real Madrid's draw at Celta Vigo, the FC crew identify the issues that have seen the reigning La Liga winners fall 16 points off the top.
Rafa Mir says Valencia turned down four offers from Real Madrid to acquire his services before he joined Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The 20-year-old was widely expected to join Real Madrid this month but was instead sold to the Championship-title chasers last week for an undisclosed fee, reportedly in the region of €2 million.
Mir, who signed a contract until June 2022 with Wolves, told Cadena Ser Valencia: "They [Valencia] turned down three or four offers from Real Madrid for me and on the other hand, they accepted Wolverhampton's first offer in December. Valencia didn't want me to go to Madrid and they succeeded."
A youth product of Valencia, Mir turned down a contract extension with Los Che last year, with his deal ending in the summer. Reports in Spain claimed that Valencia made several attempts to convince Mir to remain at the club but the player denies it.
"Valencia only made me one offer to sign a contract extension in the summer," he said. "That they had spent a year trying to renew my contract is a lie."
Mir, who scored 15 goals in 19 games for Valencia's B team this season, says he had it very clear in his mind that he wanted a new challenge.
A move to Molineux has reunited Mir with coach Nuno Espirito Santo, who gave the Murcia-born player his Champions League debut at Valencia in November 2015.
"I left Valencia CF because I wanted an ambitious project to grow and a club that put its trust in me and I didn't see that there," he said.
Mir made his Wolves debut in Saturday's FA Cup third-round tie against Swansea City at the Molineux Stadium, coming on as a 77th minute substitute in the goalless draw.
Adriana Garcia is a Valencia-based football writer who covers La Liga for ESPN FC.
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Source: espn.co.uk