David Hancko raised eyebrows by rejecting Al-Nassr, despite a done deal, to later sign for Atletico Madrid. The Slovakian international discussed the lucrative offer from the Saudi club and his reasons for turning it down.
David Hancko has quickly become one of the leaders of Atletico Madrid's defence. The Slovakian arrived at the Metropolitano after rejecting a tempting offer from Al-Nassr for personal reasons, despite being on the verge of joining Cristiano Ronaldo's side.
"From a certain point of view, it wasn't ideal to drag my pregnant wife across the world to Riyadh, but she told me that she would go there and that we could manage it. Although, of course, she had her preferences as to where to go," the centre-back said on 'TA3'.
Hancko explained that he negotiated with Al-Nassr this time due to a lack of offers: "It wasn't our first choice, I always wanted to stay in Europe. And although I spoke with coaches and sporting directors from other clubs in previous periods, the transfer never materialised. This summer only one offer arrived, so we had to sit down and talk."
Undoubtedly, the most attractive thing was the financial offer from Al-Nassr: "I'm not going to lie. That contract was simply... If I compare the contracts, I would have to play at Atletico for 20 years to earn as much. And I have a five-year contract with them, while with Al-Nassr it was only four."
"When we started to feel that something was not going well in Austria, my agent let Atletico know that they could still sign me. They did in a day and a half what we wanted them to have done a year and a half ago," the Slovakian concluded.