Football
Jonathan Smith, Manchester City correspondent 7y

Manchester City's Danilo: Playing in Premier League a dream come true

Brazil international defender Danilo has no regrets about choosing Manchester City and says the club has huge potential to win trophies.

The former Real Madrid player revealed in the summer that he turned down Chelsea because of the opportunity to work with City boss Pep Guardiola.

Real boss Zinedine Zidane even tried to convince him to stay at the Bernabeu Stadium, but the 26-year-old says a move to the Premier League and a chance to work with Guardiola is a dream come true.

"Before working under his command, I have always been an admirer of his teams. Not only for the trophies he won, but for the way he did it. Attacking football, ball possession, advanced lines, I'm a fan of that style of play," Danilo said.

"It was fantastic for me to have this opportunity. In addition, on the day-to-day, he is a very demanding manager, it demands a lot from you, it makes you involved in every training session. For me it's been wonderful and a unique experience.

"Playing [in the Premier League] was a dream I had since I was a child. It's coming true now at Manchester City."

Danilo had a difficult time at Real where he struggled to find his best form. But he has settled quickly at the Etihad Stadium and believes he has already improved as a player -- particularly working in City's strong squad.

"Competition is part of my career and part of the career of any player at a high level," he added. "Competition makes me a better player everyday, fighting and competing with my teammates for a place in the starting XI.

"I'm very happy to be able to help the team, no matter which position it is. I have already showed what I can do in the first four games of the season, playing as a right-back, left-back, centre-back, midfield -- I'm enjoying football at the highest level in the best way possible."

And the former Porto and Santos player believes that strength in depth means they should be challenging for silverware at the end of the season.

"When you see Man City's squad with lots of quality players, the experience mixed with the youth we have, that can only give us confidence for all the challenges we have to face this season," he said.

"We are aware about the difficulty of the task, we know that every week we are going to have more games in our legs, we will be more tired, there will be unexpected things along the way, but hopefully we will be able to fight for all the trophies and manage to win as much as possible."

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