Valencia captaincy snub hastened exit, says City's Torres

20-year-old joined the Citizens on a five-year contract this week for a fee reported to be around 23 million euros

LONDON:

Spanish winger Ferran Torres said Valencia's failure to hand him the captain's armband and make him one of their highest-paid players were key factors in his decision to join Manchester City.

The 20-year-old joined the Premier League side on a five-year contract this week for a fee reported to be around 23 million euros ($27.29 million).

"I wanted to stay and I put forward the conditions to do so. They weren't above the club's means," Torres told Spanish newspaper Marca.

"One was for owner Peter Lim to be involved in contract negotiations so that I knew I was important, another was to be captain ... The third was to be one of the highest paid players. I wanted two of the three, but none were fulfilled."

Torres said he first thought about leaving Valencia when he was told he would not be a first-team regular in the recent campaign.

"I started thinking about leaving last summer after the European Under-19 Championship. The club told me personally that they weren't counting on me," he said.

"They literally said I was the fifth winger in the squad, that reinforcements were coming and other players from other positions were ahead of me.

"It was a very hard blow for me, but what was worse was that they even put me on the market and offered me to teams in Spain."

Torres, who scored six goals and had eight assists for Valencia in all competitions last season, joins City as a replacement for Leroy Sane after the German winger moved to Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich last month.