Hakimi reveals he wanted to stay at Real Madrid
Achraf Hakimi said he would have loved to stay at Real Madrid after celebrating the Serie A title with Inter, though he appeared to leave the door open to a possible return.
Hakimi joined Inter from Madrid at the start of the season for a reported fee of around €40million, and on Monday, the star full-back added a Scudetto to his collection.
Inter was crowned Italian champion for the first time since 2009-2010 after Atalanta's 1-1 draw with Sassuolo left the Nerazzurri 13 points clear and unable to be caught with four rounds remaining.
Amid the celebrations in Milan, Hakimi spoke about Madrid, where the Morocco international emerged from the youth system in 2017 and made 17 appearances before spending two years on loan at Borussia Dortmund prior to the Inter switch.
"Real Madrid was my home," the 22-year-old, whose future has been discussed amid the financial situation at Inter caused by the coronavirus pandemic, said.
"I would've loved to stay there and fight for my place... but the club decided otherwise.
"I can't blame [head coach Zinedine] Zidane or the board. I guess Real Madrid maybe have the right of first refusal for me."
Hakimi has scored seven Serie A goals in his first season at Inter, while tallying six assists under Antonio Conte.
In 2020-2021, Inter has matched their points (82) and clean sheets (14) totals for the whole of last season, when it finished a point behind Juventus.
Inter's triumph ended a run of nine consecutive Scudetti for Juventus, three of which were won by Conte when he was in charge of the Bianconeri from 2011 to 2014.
