"On Tuesday I had a meeting with the coach (Javier Aguirre) of Atletico Madrid, where we spoke for a very long time and when the meeting finished it looked very positive, from my end at least," said Riquelme.

"He told me he was very excited about having me part of his team.

"But after two days of talks between the clubs, there was no agreement. No-one has explained to me why."