Pep snub turned me off Barca

When Ozil was weighing up who to join in 2010, Jose Mourinho gave him a VIP tour of Real Madrid’s facilities. However, although Barcelona were interested, there was nothing like that welcome and he never even met Pep Guardiola.

WHEN I visited Barcelona, there was no tour of the stadium; no display of their trophies, which had given me goose bumps in Madrid. Unlike Real Madrid, Barcelona had no emotional impact on me. The entire visit was less cordial, although I was inspired by their style of play.

But most disappointing of all was the fact that Pep Guardiola didn’t take the time to meet me.

Even before I went to Barcelona I was convinced that’s where I’d be transferring to. Or at least that was my preference.

At the time no team in the world played better football. It was a real pleasure to watch the magic of their combination play. They’d pass the ball amongst themselves 20 or 30 times, with the lightness and precision of a well-rehearsed piece of choreography.

But I was puzzled by the absence of Guardiola. When Reza [my agent] and I flew back from Barcelona I kept asking the question, ‘Why wasn’t the manager there?’ His answer was always the same: ‘He’s on holiday.’ Guardiola didn’t ring me over the next few days, either. He gave no signal he wanted me.

And so my enthusiasm for Barcelona steadily declined. Ultimately I didn’t want to go to Barcelona because of Guardiola’s behaviour. But also because Mourinho was fighting so hard to get me, was so convincing, so warm, so keen. He was the complete opposite of the Barcelona coach.

So I plumped for Mourinho and Real.