Manchester City winger Ferran Torres has explained how he spoke to Pep Guardiola prior to signing for the Premier League club, insisting that his words helped convince him that he was making the right decision.
Guardiola's side completed the signing of the Spaniard on Tuesday for a £21 million ($27m) fee, with Torres being brought in following Leroy Sane's exit to Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich.
The 21-year-old has explained how everything happened late regarding City's interest, and that he had enquiries from other "very big clubs" before ultimately deciding to head to England.
He told Marca: "Everything was done late with City. The first contact was with Valencia and they said that they wanted to speak with us. Then we reached an agreement before they negotiated with Valencia.
"I was very nervous that day. My agent was in Manchester with the club and he called me to tell me they had an agreement and I'd play for City. It's a club who want to win everything so I think I'll improve a lot here. Very big teams called but I have to keep that to myself."
On his talks with Guardiola, he added "He congratulated me and gave me peace of mind. It calmed me down and made me want to sign even more.
"[I want] to work, adapt quickly and learn. The more competition you have, the better you become. You always have to be at your best because otherwise you'll be on the bench.
"On the one hand, I'm excited and happy, but at the same time I'm sad because I'm leaving my club. Valencia game me everything and trained me since I was seven. I've had hard times there and that's why I ended up leaving, but I want to emphasise that I'm very grateful to Valencia and will always support them."
Indeed, Torres, who came through Valencia's academy system and made his first-team debut back in 2017, was left frustrated at his acrimonious exit from the Liga club, revealing that he had wanted to stay put.
In a message to the Los Che supporters, he said: "Thank you for everything. I always felt your support and encouragement. I'm sorry if I've offended anyone with my departure, that was never my intention, but what has happened has forced me to take a different path from the one I always dreamed of."
Discussing City's chances against Real Madrid in the Champions League last-16 second leg, with Guardiola's men 2-1 ahead from the first meeting, he continued: "City did well at [Santiago] Bernabeu. Madrid are a great team but I don't think they'll get through."