Arsenal star Hector Bellerin has revealed why he left Barcelona in 2011, as he stated he ‘needed’ to for the benefit of his career.
Bellerin has made 19 appearances for the Gunners this term, after stepping-up to the first-team in the absence of Mathieu Debuchy.
The young Spaniard joined Barcelona as a eight-year-old but left at the age of 16, after never making a first-team appearance for the Catalan giants.
Speaking to Marca, Bellerin revealed he wasn’t sure if he would have made the elite in La Liga. He said:
“I got the chance and I took it”
“Wherever you are, you have to work. If I’d stayed at Barcelona, I don’t know if I’d have made it to the elite, you just never know.”
“I’ve worked as hard as I could and always had the mentality of reaching the top. Whether I was in one place or another, I’d have done the same.”
“A lot of people in Spain watch Premier League games and know what kind of a league it is. It would be madness to say that it isn’t among the best leagues in the world,”
“The Spanish league is also at a very high level, with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atlético. In the Champions League maybe we should have done things better. Perhaps we underestimated Monaco.”