Dani Ceballos admits he would have left Real Madrid, had Zinedine Zidane stayed on as head coach.
Signed from Real Betis in July 2017 for a reported €18million, the 22-year-old barely made an impact in his first season at the Santiago Bernabeu, starting only four La Liga matches.
Ceballos has however played in three of Madrid’s four competitive matches in 2018/2019 under new boss Julen Lopetegui and he was called up to the senior national team for the first time last week.
“It’s something for him to explain, why I didn’t get opportunities,” he told Radio Marca when asked about Zidane.
“I worked, I tried to make [his decisions] difficult for him, but a moment comes when you see it’s impossible.
“I scored two goals in Vitoria and the next game I played one minute against Dortmund. When you spend weeks not feeling important, it’s more difficult.
“There was a moment in which I gave the season up. We were 15 points [off the top] in La Liga and only had the Champions League left, but I didn’t enter into the dynamic.
“I hired a personal trainer in January, because I wasn’t playing Wednesday and Sunday and I lost that intensity. I was looking to be fit for pre-season.
“If Zidane had continued, I would obviously have looked for an exit, but everything was different with Julen’s arrival.”
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