Former Liverpool midfielder, Pedro Chirivella, has spoken out on the state of his career since he left Anfield in 2020 after turning down a new contract.
Chirivella joined Liverpool as a 16 year-old from Valencia and made an immediate impression, even drawing comparisons to the likes of Xabi Alonso.
After an unsuccessful few years in the first team, he spent two seasons in the Netherlands with loan spells at Dutch sides Go Ahead Eagles and Willem II.
Despite being pipped for big things, the Spaniard’s time at Anfield was underwhelming, and it undoubtedly troughed when the club were fined £200,000 for fielding Chirivella in a League Cup game which he was ineligible to play in.
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He later revealed in an exclusive interview with The Liverpool Echo that the mistake made him want to ‘Disappear from the city, go back to Valencia, and forget Liverpool’.
Unsurprisingly, the midfielder turned down a new contract offer in 2020.
Speaking on the Blood Red Podcast, he justified his decision stating:
“Yeah, because the contract wasn’t for me to be a squad player, it was there for me to go on loan and having come back having played one or two seasons on loan, I wanted to see if I was capable of being a squad player at Liverpool.
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"But even if I had good experiences on loan I just wanted a new start, somewhere I could find a house, I could settle in”
After rejecting the merseyside club’s offer to extend his deal, he signed for Ligue 1 side Nantes where he has settled well, even helping the side to win the Coupe De France last season as a regular starter.
Speaking about his time in France, Chirivella said “For me it’s going better than I expected it after everything I went through at Liverpool."
"I took a risk not to sign a new contract and to go somewhere else, but I trusted myself to have a good time here in Nantes and since the day I arrived I’ve been an important player for the team and things are going great”
Topics: Liverpool
Ben King