West Ham goalkeeper Adrian has told FourFourTwo that Manchester City are now the most popular English club in Spain.
The 27-year-old Seville-born shot-stopper arrived in east London from Real Betis in June 2013 and has impressed the Upton Park faithful.
Making 20 Premier League appearances last season, the Spaniard earned particular plaudits for his performance in a 0-0 draw at Chelsea before being named runner-up to Mark Noble for 2014 'Hammer of the Year'.
With West Ham having won just one of their opening three league encounters this campaign, Adrian will be hoping for a quiet Monday night in Hull as the Hammers go in search of three points before taking on Liverpool and Manchester United.
Speaking exclusively to FourFourTwo, the keeper claims the Red Devils have now been usurped in the Spanish popularity stakes by crosstown rivals City.
"I think that above all people talk most about Manchester City and Chelsea," he said. "Chelsea have [Jose] Mourinho as manager, they signed Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas and others who were in La Liga. It caused a stir over there.
"Of course there's Man United, Liverpool, Arsenal, but right now Man City are the biggest for people in Spain and the most closely followed. Their manager [Manuel] Pellegrini used to coach in Spain and they have various Spanish players.
"[There's] David Silva, Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo but not anymore because he’s left [to join Valencia]. People in Spain talk about City quite a bit. At the moment they are the best known team."
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Read more from the exclusive interview with Adrian FIRST in the FourFourTwo Football Weekly, a free cross-platform digitial publication available to download on your device every Thursday evening from Google Play and the App Store. This week's edition also looks back at the seven games that shaped Roy 'Racey' Race's career, analyses a big week for Arsenal and Manchester City and contains previews for all 10 of this weekend's Premier League matches using Stats Zone. Get it now.
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Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.
