Alvaro Negredo talks parmos

Still playing in the UAE at 34, the striker discusses life at Manchester City – and reviews Middlesbrough’s parmos

You’ve spent the last two years playing for Al-nasr in Dubai. How have you found it?

Life’s totally different here and Dubai is like no other city that I have seen, but we’re happy. The weather is really good, the people are friendly. I feel that the club really respects me and the feeling is mutual.

Who did you support as a kid?

Rayo Vallecano – my family are from Vallecas. It’s not a very rich area, but a humble, working class area in Madrid. I stood behind the goal with my friends and brothers, next to the ultras. My father went to every game and still does. Then I got into the first team, aged 19, which made everyone proud.

Then Real Madrid came for you…

I went there and hoped I could get into the first team, but there were so many good players. In the B team we had Juan Mata, Filipe Luis, Javi Garcia, Borja Valero, Roberto Soldado and Alvaro Arbeloa. It was impossible for us to all go into the first team. I liked playing football at the lower levels, though, because I’m a football fan and my brothers also played there. Even now, I invest in a company called Footters. They televise games from Segunda Division B and the Tercera Division. It’s important to support the smaller clubs.

In 2007, you joined Almeria in La Liga. It was the right decision to go there because Real Madrid had seven strikers ahead of me. I was 22 and wanted to play. I did that and scored 13 goals in my first season and 19 in my second. I proved I could score goals at that level.

Real Madrid exercised their option to sign you back for €5 million, but you left again two months later – why?

I went back, but it was still difficult. Manuel Pellegrini was honest with me and said I’d play more elsewhere. I was in a strong position – I was about to be selected for Spain.

Then Sevilla paid €15m for you...

I joined Sevilla and probably had the best moments of my career there. I was also representing Spain and played at Euro 2012, when we won it. At Sevilla, we won the Copa del Rey final against Atletico Madrid. That was my very first trophy, but I wasn’t starting all the time in my first season – there was strong competition from Fredi Kanoute and Luis Fabiano. I loved Sevilla’s stadium, the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. It’s loud, it can be hot there and the derby with Betis is one of the best in Spain. That’s the atmosphere I wanted after going to Rayo matches.

Twice you scored more goals in La Liga than any other Spaniard, to win the Zarra Trophy. That helped you earn a move to Manchester City. What was your time like there? Manchester’s a good city and we were happy there. It’s a nice city for

a footballer, one where you can live in peace – even though there’s too much rain! I was friends with Pablo Zabaleta, David Silva and Sergio Aguero. They all welcomed me – and my old friend Juan Mata. I won the Premier League and the League Cup with City. I started by playing a lot and scoring loads of goals – 23 in my first season, all of them by January. Playing alongside Aguero, Silva and Yaya Toure made my job easier – but after February I had a shoulder injury which made it difficult for me to play. The manager used other strikers instead, but I still feel I made the right move going to City. I was playing for the best team in England, in the best league in the world.

Why did you leave after just one year to join Valencia?

To play. Initially I went on loan, but didn’t play until the middle of October. I was in and out of the team. You need continuity for your confidence. I said some words about the tactics of our coach and he didn’t choose me again, but it wasn’t just that. The situation at Valencia was difficult and the coaches changed three times in one year. Gary Neville was my coach for a little while. I played more under him, but he was at the club in a bad time. Gary and his brother Phil were good people but it was a terrible time for everyone at Valencia. The first person to lose their job is the coach when the team is not winning.

Then you returned to England with Middlesbrough.

Middlesbrough had a Spanish coach and there were a lot of Spanish players there. Middlesbrough is a small place but it’s a good, friendly, family club. I liked it there. I scored 10 goals and it looked like we would stay up, but we fell away at the end and were relegated.

Did you have a parmo?

Yes! It wasn’t really the best thing for a professional footballer to eat, so I only had it once or twice, but I liked it.

After that, you went from Boro to the Bosphorus, with Besiktas...

The noise when Besiktas played a big game was the loudest I’ve ever known. I loved that club and all their support. They had a song for me in Turkish and I scored a lot of goals. It was another fantastic place for me to live in, and another great club to play for. I don’t regret any of my decisions in football. Sometimes you have luck, other times you don’t, but I’ve played for a long time around the world. A lot of players are not that fortunate.

Andy Mitten