Brought in by André Villa Boas when the Portuguese manager was in charge at Tottenham, Roberto Soldado never managed to fit in at White Hart Lane.
Arriving as one of the more prolific strikers from La Liga in the same summer as the likes of Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela, the now 31-year-old really struggled to find the back of the net for Spurs, scoring just 16 goals in 76 games for them, most of which were penalties.
Sold by Mauricio Pochettino in 2015 for a £12m loss to Villarreal two years after his arrival, the former Tottenham striker has recently returned from a cruciate knee ligament injury, and spoke to El Periodico Mediterraneo about life at the Spanish club.
The newspaper also asked him how he had changed over the past few years, and that’s when the Spanish striker opened up about his time with the London club at White Hart Lane.
He said: “Since I left the Premier League, I’ve changed my way of thinking, and now I see things a different way. I thought I would go to Tottenham to enjoy myself, but that wasn’t the case. The truth is that it was really hard, especially when Villas Boas left, who was the manager who brought me there.
“Furthermore, my family suffered a lot because the change was very sudden, especially when it came to the climate and the language.”
Despite the list of negatives, Soldado admits that he admired quite a few things about English football, especially the support he and his teammates received from Spurs fans during his time there.
He explained: “I remember that we lost 5-0 at home against Liverpool, and when we went to our cars, our fans applauded us, cheered us and also asked us for autographs. In Spain, you would have to wait two hours so that no one would reproach you of anything”.
Since his return from injury, the former Tottenham forward has scored two goals and picked up one assist in five appearances for Villarreal this season.
