Tenerife midfielder Valentín Vada has revealed he once had the chance to join Chelsea and Real Madrid in the early days of his career.
Vada is currently on loan at the Spanish second division side from Almería, who he joined in a £675,000 deal from Bordeaux in 2019.
Before the move to Spain, he had spent the entirety of his career in France, initially joining Bordeaux’s under 19 side in 2019 and moving up their ranks to the first team via a spell with their B team.
He would go on to make 86 appearances in all competitions for them, either side of a 12 game loan spell at fellow French side Saint-Etienne.
However, it appears he could have been destined for greater things, had his first club as a youngster been a little more open when Chelsea and Madrid came knocking.
“When I was nine years old, I started travelling to Bordeaux. In Córdoba (Argentina), there was the Crecer Project, which is like a Girondins subsidiary,” he told El Dia.
“The people from that club used to go to see me in Argentina, and from a very young age, I began to travel three or four times a year.
“But I was also with Real Madrid and Chelsea, who wanted to sign me.
“In the end, I decided to sign with Girondins thinking that it was the best option because one saw the quarries of Real Madrid and Chelsea and thought that, perhaps, there it would be more difficult to stand out.
“I even played friendly matches with both teams. But what the Argentine subsidiary wanted at that time was to have the same relationship with Real Madrid or Chelsea as with Girondins, and they didn’t accept it.
“They just wanted to have the player. Likewise, because of everything they had given my family, it was always clear to me that I wanted to go to France.”
