Jose Enrique admits life at Newcastle United has been a rollercoaster.
Relegation, five managers in 17 months and a struggle to make the first team did not exactly make his £6million switch from Villarreal look like a dream move.
Only now - a week after Newcastle got their Premier League points tally up and running with a 6-0 thumping of Aston Villa - is life looking up.
Enrique told the Daily Mail: "At first, under Sam Allardyce, I didn't play much. And when I did, what took me by surprise was how physical and fast the game is. You have so many fast players. For me that wasn't too bad because I've always been quick. I used to run competitively at school. I maybe could have done it professionally but football was what I wanted to do.
"So I could handle the speed but what was difficult was communication. I didn't speak English and I couldn't understand what my team-mates were saying during games.
"Mark Viduka and Obafemi Martins were my main friends when I arrived. They used to come to my house. I didn't really speak English but we managed to get along anyway. We had players like Mark, Oba, Michael Owen and Geremi and we thought we were going to be challenging for a place in Europe. But obviously it didn't work out like that."
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