Bert Kontermann turned down REAL MADRID... all because he didn't want to learn Spanish

Published on: 29 May 2020

Ex-Rangers defender Bert Kontermann has revealed he turned down a move to Real Madrid because he was nervous about learning Spanish.

The former Holland international, who made 12 caps for his country, was at Feyenoord in 1999 when the opportunity to move to the Spanish giants came about.

Instead of grasping the chance, Kontermann stayed for one more season before joining Rangers in 2000 - though he admits he didn't immediately regret the decision, as reported by Marca.

'That summer, Real Madrid offered 20 million guilder (£9million) for me,' Kontermann told the Talkin Fitbaw podcast.

'Leo Beenhakker was my coach and he'd been Real Madrid coach. He said "Real Madrid want you".

'I said "You're joking, I don't believe you". He said "I want you to stay at Feyenoord, but I can imagine that you want to go to Real Madrid because it's a fantastic club".

'In my mind, my next move should have been to Germany or Britain, because I was speaking German very well and English pretty good.

'So, Spain was a little bit scary for me because I was a bit nervous for a big move to a club like that and I was a little bit nervous about learning Spanish. I think that as a human being, I was not ready at that time to make that move to Real Madrid.'

If he joined Real Madrid in 1999, Kontermann, who made 79 league appearances for Rangers in three years at the club, would have been part of a European Cup winning side - Madrid won the Champions League in 1999-2000, beating Valencia 3-0 in the final.

'Afterwards, maybe it was a stupid move from myself,' the 49-year-old admits.

'They were really serious. But I said to Beenhakker that I wanted to stay at Feyenoord. At that time, I had no pain about that decision.'

Source: m.allfootballapp.com

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