Zinedine Zidane tried to keep Danilo at Real Madrid but new Manchester City signing was ready for change
The £26.5m signing has revealed a last-ditch attempt by Real Madrid to keep him at the Bernabeu
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Your support makes all the difference.New Manchester City signing Danilo has revealed that Zinedine Zidane made a last-gasp sales pitch to keep him at Real Madrid.
In Pep Guardiola’s summer shopping spree of full-backs, Danilo arrives at the Etihad as the cheapest of City’s new recruits, albeit they splashed out £26.5m on the Brazil international.
Despite fellow new boys Kyle Walker and Benjamin Mendy expected to hold down the first-choice full-back slots this season, the 26-year-old hopes to play more regularly than his two years at Real, where he was limited to a modest 41 appearances.
But while he may have been a bit-part player at the Bernabeu, Zidane was clearly a fan of the former Porto man after trying to persuade him to ignore City’s advances.
When asked whether Zidane attempted to make him stay, Danilo said: “Yes he did, but I was sure I needed to change.
“I needed to think a bit more about myself and find a place where I had more options.
“It was very fast, I was training with Real Madrid, Pep called me and I was very motivated to make this change and start to work with him.”
Danilo was also high on Chelsea’s radar, although he brushed aside suggestions that it was a tough choice to reject the Premier League champions.
“It wasn't a difficult decision to choose City over Chelsea. The moment City called me and Pep called me, I knew what I had to do,” he said.
The obvious hurdle potentially lying in Danilo’s path is that he is swapping one bit-part role for another, given City spent in excess of £50m on both Walker and Mendy.
The suggestion has been that he can cover both full-back slots, although in an interview conducted through a translator, he tellingly knew two English words.
When asked what was his favourite position, he replied: "Right back".
But he clearly doesn’t see the high-profile recruitment of Walker and Mendy as an issue, due to City’s Champions League and cup commitments.
He said: “The season is very long and we'll have a lot of games. It's good to have the same players with good potential or better."
“All of these big teams have very skilful players. Real Madrid had the best players and I'm very motivated for this challenge.
“I'm going to try my best to adapt as soon as possible. I see the potential in this side and I am going to do my best.”
Neither does he believe that he has taken a step backwards in leaving the Champions League winners for City.
“I see that this team is a great team with great professionals and a great coach, so I see and I expect a very good challenge,” he added.
“I have no doubt we can win the Champions League, that's why I chose this team.
“In all the teams I played for in my life, the objectives have always been the same.”
Danilo was speaking at the launch of City Football Group's joint venture with Goals in the United States and Canada.
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