Aleix Vidal talks about reason for staying at Barcelona after revealing 'chances to go to various clubs'
Aleix Vidal was linked with moves to AS Roma and Sevilla in January.
Aleix Vidal has revealed that he had no thoughts about leaving Barcelona during the recently concluded January transfer window despite having numerous offers from other clubs.
The 28-year-old defender has struggled for game time since joining the Catalan club from Sevilla in 2015 and it looked like Barcelona were ready to allow him to leave the club.
Vidal's former club were keen to re-sign him, but were unwilling to match the current La Liga leaders' valuation, which was said to be around €12m (£10.5m, $14.9m) plus €3m in add-ons. AS Roma were also linked with a move but, made no concrete offer to sign the Spain international.
Vidal has made 18 appearances across all competitions this season and has mainly been used in the right wing position, which according to the player is his preferred role. However, he is unlikely to be afforded regular game time following the arrival of Philippe Coutinho, and he has lost his place at right-back to Sergi Roberto.
However, Ernesto Valverde ruled out a departure for the Spain international following the departures of Rafinha, Arda Turan and Gerard Deulofeu as they all played in a similar position preferred by Vidal. The manager is hopeful that he can provide cover when needed in the right-wing position.
Vidal is unfazed about the lack of regular game time and has made it clear that he is willing to work hard to garner as much playing time as possible. He will remain a Barcelona player at least until the end of the season, but will play a bit-part role owing to other players ahead of him in the pecking order.
"I'm conscious of the difficulty of playing here at Barcelona, but you will see that I have no problems, I do my job and everything is how it should be. It's always good to have minutes and have them trust you, but you have to trust yourself too," Vidal said, as quoted by Spanish publication Sport.
"It's my natural position (RW), if I had to choose I'd pick winger. If I play at full-back, it's make-shift.
"I've had confidence since I arrived here. I give all I can day to day and if the coach is happy then great. You have to keep working, there's no alternative. Back yourself and don't listen to what the people say. You have to have a calm conscience about what you do and I have it," he explained.
"At no moment did I think about leaving. I'm fine here. There were lots of chances to go to various clubs, but I am here because the club made an effort to keep me," Vidal added.