Brentford star Sergi Canós reveals that Liverpool offered him a five year contract to remain with the club, The Guardian report.
Canós joined Barcelona at the age of just 13 but now plays for a side who some dub as the ‘Championship Barcelona’.
Canós relived his time with the Spanish giants before speaking of the comparison that some people make between his current and former side.
It was when [Pep] Guardiola won six trophies in a season. It was amazing because La Masia became ‘Wow, La Masia’. And we were living in La Masia. I laugh now but we used to look out of the windows of the rooms and you would see the tourist bus. Everyone was taking photos because it became where Messi used to live, where Iniesta used to live, Busquets, Piqué, Puyol, Valdés.
A lot of people compare us with them. Barcelona is Barcelona but Brentford is Brentford. The counter-pressing, moving the ball quick, wide players giving width. It is basically the same. We are all different but we try to play good football. It is great for us; I don’t think anyone – maybe Leeds – plays like we play.
Teams come to Griffin Park and don’t play how they play at home. They try and stop us playing. That’s amazing, because they are worried about us. That’s kind of a respect. We don’t defend that much. We defend with the ball and that’s important. I think it’s going to be a great game; I hope we can show Arsenal what Brentford are all about.
Whilst at La Masia, Canós roomed for three years with current Arsenal player Julio Pleguezuelo. Canós also lived with Josimar Quintero, Héctor Bellerín and Jon Toral and went on to speak of his time with the Spanish stars who have also made the move to England.
We all lived together, you see them every day and they were older but you see them step into English football.
They are like your brothers. I think I was 14 when Héctor and Jon left and I thought: ‘If the opportunity comes, why not take it?’ When I was 16 Liverpool came and I took that opportunity.
Canós then spoke of how his decision to leave La Masia and join Liverpool was a no brainer for him.
In Barcelona they said you can be in under-18s, under-19s, but I couldn’t play real football. Liverpool offered me real football and I trained with the first team sometimes. For a kid of 16 that was amazing. If you get told that in the next months you are going to train with Luis Suárez, Steven Gerrard and Brendan Rodgers as a manager – you take it. I’d take it now, in five years and in 10 years.
Canós made just one senior appearance during his time with the Reds but a successful loan spell at Brentford saw him opt to leave the leave club on a permanent basis in order to get more first-team experience.
After Christmas I took the decision I didn’t want to sign a new contract with Liverpool. They offered me five years more but I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to be one more; I wanted to be important and I didn’t want to go on loan again.
To sign for five more years at Liverpool, it meant that my career was going to depend on Liverpool, them making decisions for me. They didn’t offer me the opportunity to try and train and play for the first team.
Still only 21, the youngster was asked what’s next for him in his career with which he answered:
The future is getting to the Premier League with Brentford. Is it possible? Yes, of course. You just have to come to Griffin Park and watch us play.
