Spain international Alvaro Negredo has ended speculation surrounding his future by telling the Manchester City website that he is not homesick.
“I don’t want to leave City, I’m very happy and very settled here,” said the 28-year-old, who had been heavily linked with a move to Atletico Madrid this summer before Los Rojiblancos completed the signing of Croatian forward Mario Mandzukic.
Negredo added: “I had a difficult end to the season and that’s why there has been lots of talking, but I’ve been very happy from the first day I arrived here.”
The former Sevilla hitman plundered an impressive 23 goals in 48 games for the Citizens in his first year in English football, but many were scored in the first half of the season, with his last league goal coming in the 2-0 defeat of Newcastle back in January.
He netted in the League Cup semi-final, second leg clash with West Ham United on January 21 but suffered a shoulder injury in the same game which seemingly halted his progress, and he drew a blank for the rest of the campaign.
With rumours about his future now put to bed, the man from Madrid can concentrate on rekindling the kind of form that convinced Blues manager Manuel Pellegrini to fork out £16million for his services last summer.