Jonathan Viera says he is one player happy for Ernesto Valverde’s exit as Coach at Valencia, admitting that he did not enjoy life under him.
Valverde left this summer after a half-season in charge of Los Che, to take the hotseat at Athletic Bilbao and be replaced at Mestalla by Miroslav Djukic.
For one of the squad’s midfielders current preparations at the team’s preseason base in Germany have come with added motivation.
“This summer at first, I was badly burned by the last six months and all I wanted was to be with my family and relax, forget about football,” Viera admitted to Superdeporte today.
“But as the weeks went by I wondered what it would be to start again, with a Coach who likes good treatment of the ball and to play good football and I knew that I had to return at my best so as to figure in his plans.
“If I did not think that I can have an important role here next season, I would have spoken with the club, packed my bags and left. I still believe I will be important for Valencia and for that I am here.
“Last season was the worst of my career without doubt. If I’m honest, if Valverde was still here then I would have left, because it was not a matter of doing things right or wrong, I watched the training sessions and wondered why.
“Once he came to talk to me and told me that I was training well, I was in great condition and I asked him why I was not playing.
“If he had told me that he did not like me then I would understand and that is that, but if he tells me nothing then that is worse because you go home and it stays in your mind.
“What was I doing wrong? I wondered what I had to improve on, but the weekend came and others played and in the end I concluded that he did not like me, period.”
