Borussia Dortmund wing-back Lukasz Piszczek insists he was never close to joining Real Madrid.

Now 35, the Poland international was linked with Real consistently when a younger player in Dortmund.

Piszczek told Kicker: “Every year they told me that I was going to Real Madrid, but then nothing happened.

"There were no proposals, my agent did not tell me about direct contacts, they were just rumours.

"Perhaps Borussia Dortmund wanted to prevent me from leaving, so they did not even listen to the other clubs."