Borja Mayoral seemed to have talked ill about fellow striker Luka Jovic when he talked about about his decision to leave Real Madrid for a loan move at AS Roma this summer.
Mayoral, who featured in just a game for Madrid after returning from his two-year stint with Levante moved to Italy following conversations with manager Zinedine Zidane in which he revealed the Frenchman was keen on keeping him as the club wanted to offload Jovic.
He told AS during his unveiling as a Roma player on Wednesday: “When I got to pre-season with Madrid I was supposed to leave the club quickly, but Zidane wanted me to stay. I told him that I had to leave so that I could get more minutes. I think the club listened to what Zidane had to say and that’s why they tried to let Jovic go.”
His comments have however not gone down well with many supporters of the club with some claiming the Spain youth international did not act as a professional on the occasion.
However, a day after his initial controversial quotes, the forward has been forced to correct his words and was quite quick about it as he apologised to the Serbia international as well as the club.
“If I have to apologise to Real Madrid or Jovic, then I do”, Mayoral told Spanish press Cadena SER. “I shouldn’t have talked about Real Madrid’s business. Context is lacking in what I said. Zidane told me that he was happy with me but I never talked with Zidane about Jovic. It looked like I disrespected Jovic but it is not the case.”
The 23-year-old also went on to talk a bit about what happened during the transfer window.
“I was going to leave early in the summer but some of the deals fell through and I kept training with Madrid, then I had a meeting with Zidane and he told me that he was happy with me. I talked to Jose Angel Sanchez and Zidane and then we all decided that the best thing for me was to leave the club, but we never talked about Jovic, only about me.”
Then, he also went on to heap praise on Jovic.
“I have the utmost respect for him, he’s a Real Madrid player. I’ve been training with him for the last month and a half but I never showed disrespect for a teammate, Zidane or the club,” concluded Mayoral.
