Malcolm Delaney: They excluded me and I didn’t really appreciate that

Malcolm Delaney talked about his decision to leave Barcelona with Eurohoops:

«When I signed, I didn’t wanna sign anywhere in Europe for one year. For a one-year contract, I would have gotten back to China. I want people to understand that when I signed in Barcelona I said, and I repeatedly said throughout the year, I love this city, the fans embraced me. Barcelona was a place where I could see myself end my career. This wasn’t fake, it wasn’t for show, I felt like Barcelona could be my home».

«I felt like I deserved an extension and I never received an offer. Barcelona never asked me to extend. My agents told them it was something we needed to discuss because there would be interest from other teams».

«Even before the situation with the coronavirus, I thought I should be offered an extension. That kind of changed my mentality because I felt like I was giving my all to a club and it wasn’t the same in return. I have no disrespect for Barcelona, I don’t have anything negative to say about Barcelona. I talked to everyone and always said I wanted to be in Barcelona. It was out of my hands, I didn’t have an offer from Barcelona».

«They excluded me and I didn’t really appreciate that. I haven’t talked to coach Pesic since early March, probably since our last game. Since I went home I haven’t talked to anybody. The only person I talked to was our trainer and our team doctor reached out to me to make sure I was okay. Nobody from the front office reached out. It felt wrong, especially when a player sacrifices so much. Everybody said how they wanted me to be in Barcelona but nobody would check on me».

«Maybe the budget situation wasn’t right, but my only thing was communication. Someone could have communicated with me and say “Malcolm, we want you to stay”. Even if they offered me something that wasn’t great, at least make an offer».