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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Daniel Murphy

Former Real Madrid player reveals Jose Mourinho blocked him from joining Man City

Former Real Madrid winger Pedro Leon has revealed that his then manager Jose Mourinho prevented him from joining Man City.

Former Manchester United boss Mourinho took over Madrid in a bid to counteract the success of Pep Guardiola at Barcelona and he spent a pretty penny in his first summer transfer window.

Mourinho brought Angel Di Maria, Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, Ricardo Carcalho, Sergi Canales and Leon to the club in a hefty outlay.

At the time Leon was considered one of Spain's hottest prospects and Madrid splashed out £9milion to secure his talents from Getafe.

However, he would make just 14 appearances for the capital side and was loaned back to Getafe for the next two seasons before they resigned him permanently.

However, according to the forward, a number of big clubs were interested in signing him beforehand but Mourinho wouldn't allow it.

“I had another offer from City, Chelsea and Milan," the 32-year-old told Onda Cero .

"Some wanted to sign me in winter but Mourinho didn’t let me go."

Leon has spent the last three years at EIbar but his career could have taken a much different path if he was allowed to venture to the Etihad Stadium.

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